^{Image Source: India TV}

New Delhi: As part of the lockdown relaxations, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had announced that they would be relaxing their restrictions on the sale of alcohol across the country from May 4 (today), except in areas that have been declared as containment zones. On Monday, lengthy queues were witnessed outside liquor shops all across the country and in some cases, social distancing norms were also flouted.

For this reason, just hours after being allowed to re-open, many stores in Delhi were forced to shut after huge crowds gathered outside and social distancing norms were thrown to the wind.

In some areas, including Laxmi Nagar, police personnel even resorted to lathi-charge control the crowds.

Liquor stores in the Laxmi Nagar, Mayur Vihar and Krishna Nagar areas have been shut by the authorities as eager customers were seen thronging the shops and standing close to each other.

As per the guidelines issued by the MHA, liquor shops are barred from re-opening if they are located in markets and malls in urban areas. For the shops that are allowed to open, they should ensure that there is a minimum of six-foot distance maintained between customers and that not more than five people can be present inside a shop at the same time.

It can be noted that New Delhi alone has over 90 containment zones and stands third in the country in terms of total confirmed COVID-19 cases. The entire country has been under lockdown since March 24. While it was initially slated to end on April 14, it was extended to May 3 and then again to May 17. However, the third phase of the lockdown has seen far more relaxations in terms of movement and permitted economic activities.

The ban on liquor sale since March 24 has come at a huge cost to the individual state’s exchequer as excise duties form a large part of the state governments’ income.