Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao did not dash the hopes of tipplers. Days after allowing lifting restrictions on production of alcohol in distilleries and breweries, the Telangana government has decided to allow restricted sale of alcohol by opening retail liquor stores.
On Tuesday, after the marathon Cabinet meeting lasting more than seven hours, KCR said the Telangana has allowed sale of liquor in all green and orange zones, excluding containment zones, in order to deal with major drop in revenues. In the last two Cabinet meetings, KCR ruled out allowing liquor sales in the state.
While standalone shops will be allowed to sell liquor in green zones, persons visiting the shops will have to maintain physical distance of at least six feet and will have to wear face masks. “No mask, no liquor,” KCR said.
The Telangana government’s decision to open liquor stores is in line with the central government’s directive allowing liquor shops in designated green and orange zones in the country with effect from May 4, apart from allowing resumption of liquor sales in rural areas.
The government has allowed the wine shops to open in the state post from 10 am to 6 pm, meanwhile bars and pubs will remain closed in the state. However, Hyderabad will not be allowed to open the liquor shops in the wake of increasing novel coronavirus cases in the capital city.
Further, the Cabinet has decided to hike prices of liquor by 16 per cent while that of cheap liquor by 11 per cent. The opening of liquor stores, many felt, can trigger surge in positive corona cases with unmanageable crowds thronging the liquor stores as was witnessed in Andhra Pradesh. On Monday, after the AP government permitted liquor sales, there were long queues stretching up to at least six kilometers in some green and orange zones while tipplers gave thumbs down to the social distancing norm. On Monday, the standalone liquor shops were reopened in green, orange and red zones, except in containment areas, after 43 days since the beginning of lockdown in the Andhra Pradesh on March 25, but the police had a hard time in several areas of the state in ensuring tipplers adhere to social distancing norms. The scenes outside the liquor stores were a horrific vision to anyone who’s been taking the advice of doctors and scientists seriously during this time, and state governments across India are trying to navigate their way around this thorny problem of overcrowding at newly reopened liquor shops. Experts believe that the situation in Telangana will not be any different from the one witnessed in neighboring Andhra Pradesh.
This is the fourth cabinet meeting. In the previous Cabinet meet, the Telangana government extended the lockdown till May 7 without any relaxations although the Modi government extended the nation-wide lockdown by May 3.
