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Liquor shops unwilling to home deliver despite mayor’s permission
Liquor shops within the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) are giving a lukewarm response to Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol’s decision of permitting home delivery of liquor from Monday to Friday between 7 am to 6 pm
Liquor shops within the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) are giving a lukewarm response to Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol’s decision of permitting home delivery of liquor from Monday to Friday between 7 am to 6 pm.
The demand for liquor is overwhelming, however, business owners fear crowding outside the shop, if they open shutters for home delivery.
Ajay Deshmukh, secretary of the Pune liquor association and owner of Ajay Wines said, “I am not doing it and many of my fellow businessmen are also not doing it for the main reason that once we open our shutters, the crowd starts showing up and then police harass us. In many cases, shop owners were taken to police stations on the charge of allowing crowds at their shops. Since Section 144 is applicable, it is tough to avoid crowds.”
The liquor shops have been shut from April 2 to curtail the further spread of the virus. However, the excise department has been hit by huge revenue loss. Last year too, the state excise department allowed the home delivery of alcohol but received a lukewarm response. This year, people can order during specific timings.
GSP wines in Aundh has put up a board with a contact number for home delivery but people hover around waiting for the shop to open its shutters.
“It is an overwhelming response, that is difficult to handle and tiring. In a day, we are doing 34 to 35 deliveries and I have four of my staff ready to help. We have down the shutters, and I have bouncers to help maintain social distance for people still come to the shutters and bang on it,” said Raj Bhagiya, owner of GSP wines.
Mahendra Ghule of Ghule wines is finding replying to the phone calls difficult.
“Ever since the mayor announced it, people are calling nonstop and asking for a lot of stock which is slowly depleting. If things don’t slow down, we will have to stop this service,” said Ghule.
The PMC has around 170 shops, while the district has around 270 shops of which hardly 10-12 shops might be doing home delivery, but the loss of business is huge.
“In Pune we are paying almost Rs1 lakh per month as licence fee which is heavy. Also, during the lockdown, we need to pay our staff, electricity as usual. It comes with a heavy blow,” added Deshmukh.
