Maha: Queues outside liquor shops amid confusion on opening

Long queues were seen outside liquor outlets in Mumbai and Pune on Monday, a day after the state government said shops of non-essential items, including liquor, will be allowed to open in COVID-19 non-containment zones, but to the dismay of the customers, they remained shut.

The confusion was apparently due to a contradictory communication from the excise department, a shop owner said. A senior state government official said no order has been issued to keep these liquor shops closed.

A liquor shop owner from suburban Kalina said the liquor shopwoners got a circular from the excise department on Sunday evening, asking not to open the outlets.

"Our shops have already been sealed by the department. I contacted other liquor shop owners. They are also not going to open the outlets till the excise department gives a clear order," he said.

Tipplers queued up outside liquor shops in Dahisar, Matunga, Santacruz, Malwani, Kandivali and other places since early hours of Monday, but found the outlets closed.

In some areas, police announced that the liquor shops will not open on Monday and asked people to go back home.

Sooraj Pawar from suburban Santacruz said, "We earlier got to know the outlet was going to openfrom Sunday nightso we assembled here. But, we later left when the shop owner said it will be openon Monday morning. Now, we are standing here since early morning, but the shop is closed. We want liquor at any cost.

Local resident Happy Singh said he and others were standing outside a wine shop in Kalina for last six hours, expecting that it would open.

"But now we came to know that the shop is not going to open today," he said.

In Pune also, people started queuing up outside liquor shops in Kothrud, Sinhgad Road, Vishrantwadi and Deccan areas well before 10 am, but no shop opened.

The excise department and the district administration will issue an order on this, an excise official said. Pune Police have extended prohibitory orders till May 17, but allowed some partial relaxations. Five shops of non-essential goods on a particular road or lane will be allowed to open between 10 am and 6 pm in non-containment zones, as per a Pune Police order.

Pune Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said police will take a call on allowing five non-essential shops to remain open on a single road or lane. The area under COVID-19 containment zones in Pune has reduced, he said.

"As per the revised containment zones, out of 330 sqkm area, only three per cent of area is currently under the containment zones," he said. In the remaining 97 per cent area, normalcy will gradually be back from Monday in terms of daily business, and construction activities will also be allowed to resume there, he said.

Gaikwad also said only one personis allowed to ride a two-wheeler, and three persons, including a driver and two on the back seat, are allowed in a car.

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