Chhattisgarh govt allows home delivery of liquor; BJP questions 'priority' amid lockdown

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to spike, the Chhattisgarh government has now allowed home delivery of liquor through online sale amid the lockdown, said an official. Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP in Chhattisgarh criticised the ruling Congress over this decision. The BJP claimed that it seems the Chhattisgarh government's priority was to provide liquor to people instead of medical facilities during the pandemic. 

COVID-19 Lockdown: Chhattisgarh allows home-deliver of liquor

Earlier on Saturday, the state commercial taxes department gave permission to the excise commission to allow home delivery of liquor through online orders, said the official. Stating that during the lockdown, the liquor shops are not allowed to open in the state, an official from the excise department said, "To curb illegal manufacturing, sale, transportation and possession of liquor during the lockdown period, permission has been granted for its home delivery through online orders from Monday."

As per the guidelines, timings for the home delivery of liquor have been fixed from 9 am to 8 pm. However, the district administration can change the timings as per the local situation, said the excise official. He further said that the Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation Limited (CSMCL) will decide which shops will provide the home delivery service and customers will have to make the payment in advance while placing the order.

Earlier in May 2020, the Chhattisgarh government had allowed the online sale of liquor as the shops were closed due to the restrictions imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic. Like earlier, people can this time also book their orders on CSMCL's website or its app available on the mobile play store.

As per the guidelines, customers can order up to 5 litres of liquor at a time and Rs 100 will be charged for home delivery service which will be available within 15 km of the shop concerned. Chhattisgarh Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhma on Saturday said in view of incidents of illegal sale of liquor and deaths after consumption of sanitisers and alcohol-based medicines as a substitute for liquor, the government was considering restarting the home delivery service of liquor.

Kawasi Lakhma said the lockdown is in force in the state for some time and liquor shops are shut. Police have been taking necessary action to thwart the illegal sale of liquor in Chhattisgarh from neighbouring states. "Besides, it's a big headache as a large number of people recently died in Bilaspur (after consuming an alcohol-based homoeopathy syrup) and a sad incident was also earlier reported in Raipur," Lakshmi said. Meanwhile, the BJP slammed the state government over its decision to allow home delivery of liquor. 

Leader of Opposition Dharmalal Kaushik claimed, "The decision shows the state government has no concern for the health of citizens. Instead of focusing on arranging treatment facilities for COVID-19, it is giving priority to serving liquor."

COVID-19 situation in Chhattisgarh 

As India continues to battle against the pandemic, Chhattisgarh so far has recorded over 8,42,356 positive cases, out of which, 7,01,116 have successfully recovered and 10,381 have died. As per the latest updates from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 12,239
new cases,  12,198 fresh recoveries and 223 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in the state is 1,30,859. 

(Image: PTI)