Liquor vends to reopen in Ludhiana from May 7

District administration gears up to contain chaos-like situation outside vends; home delivery of liquor also allowed

With Punjab government ordering opening of liquor vends in the state from Thursday, Ludhiana liquor vend owners have marked circles outside their shops to maintain social distancing.

The liquor vends in the district have been lying closed since the curfew was imposed on March 23. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

According to the orders of the state government, only five customers will be allowed outside the shops at a time. There is also a provision to deliver liquor at the doorsteps of the residents, with maximum of two litres liquor per customer.The vends will remain open from 9am to 3pm, while home delivery will be entertained between 3pm and 6pm

Curfew pass has been made mandatory for the staff of vends delivering alcohol at doorsteps, while delivery of liquor has been prohibited in containment zones.

Taking lessons from other states, the district police have pulled up socks to deal with any chaos-like situation outside liquor vends. Commissioner of police Rakesh Agrawal said the police were prepared to tackle any such situation and were committed to execute the government’s orders.

Meanwhile, the move has received mixed response from the public. Kulwant Singh of Sarabha Nagar said as the government had suffered huge monetary losses during the lockdown, it was forced to open liquor vends, which generated huge revenue. He cautioned that relaxation should be provided but the government should exercise maximum caution.

Rajiv Sharma, a resident of Dugri, said the city was in the red zone, so the decision of opening liquor vends could backfire. The government should have waited for some more days before announcing the move, he added.

HOME DELIVERY OF LIQUOR: CIVIL LINES RESIDENT LOSES ₹34,000 TO FRAUDSTERS

Mukesh Kumar of Civil Lines on Wednesday lost ₹34,000 to fraudsters when he ordered a carton of scotch using a number advertised on Facebook offering home delivery of liquor at doorsteps.

The trickster demanded ₹14,000 for the carton and asked him to make online payment using UPI. They demanded ₹4,000 in advance. Mukesh said after sometime the accused called him again and asked him to transfer another ₹10,000 claiming that the delivery boy was near his house.

He said the accused made him make payments twice more, claiming that they had not received the amount and it had been credited to his account. He said by the time he realised he had been duped, the accused had already made him transfer ₹34,000. He has made a complaint to assistant commissioner of police (ACP, West) Sameer Verma stating that the Facebook page and numbers of the fraudsters are still active.