Sources in the excise department said that due to delays in completing the paperwork between the state excise commissioner and the collector, it was only after 1 pm that a circular could be issued permitting alcohol shops to reopen. (Representational)

In different parts of the city, people started queuing outside liquor shops from the early hours of Monday, in anticipation of the shops opening after the state government relaxed earlier restrictions against the sale of alcohol.

But shops in many places opened only by late afternoon, by which time, the people in the queues had grown restive and thrown all caution on social distancing to the winds. In some places, when the stores opened, the police had to be called to prevent crowding, and enforce physical distancing with what officers described as “mild lathicharge”.

The state had on Sunday allowed the reopening of a maximum of five shops selling “non-essential” items on any road or street, including alcohol, books/stationery, electricals and mobile phones.

Sources in the excise department said that due to delays in completing the paperwork between the state excise commissioner and the collector, it was only after 1 pm that a circular could be issued permitting alcohol shops to reopen.

Around 2.30 pm, the owner of King’s Wine Shop in Powai said, “People have been queuing up outside the shop since early morning, but we just got the written permission due to which there has been a delay in opening the shop.”

Another wine shopowner from Matunga, Shailesh Shetty, said: “I got the circular at 4 pm, which said that the shops should be open only from 10 am to 6 pm. So, I had to shut it down in two hours. But people had started gathering much before my shop opened. I had even drawn circles for people to stand in line and maintain social distance. But they refused to listen.”

Outside Veera Wines in Andheri, men had started queuing as early as 6 am, but the shop eventually opened nine hours later, at 3 pm, leading to scenes of chaos. By 4 pm, the local police had to be called to control the crowd. The police team made people stand in a queue and one officer had to control the number of people buying at the counter.

Superintendent of the excise department, S B Rajput, said: “We got the notification from the collector’s office only after 12 noon, following which, we issued a circular to all the wine shops in the city.”

Bhim Reddy, a food delivery boy, who stood in a queue outside a wine shop in Powai, said: “It looks like I will get liquor only in the evening. I will wait here till the time I don’t get a call for a pick up- deliver order. I have not had a drink in over a month, I want to drink tonight. So, I will buy as much as I can.”

A wine shopowner, who only identified himself as Sumeet, said, “We are going to ensure that people are maintaining social distance. Only one customer’s order will be taken at a time. Inside the shop, one person will take the orders and two others will help in giving them out.”

People have forgotten that the world is dealing with a pandemic, said an onlooker. “How can these many people crowd at one place ? No social distancing, very few people are wearing masks,” said Anand Rai, a resident of Bhandup. “Looking at this mess, I feel the government will revoke the decision of opening liqour shops.”

When The Indian Express asked a customer if he was not scared of catching the infection, the man, a Kanjurmarg resident, said: “No, the cure is in this shop.”

There were also the other kind of customers who were scared of getting infected and could be easily made out, because they would by typically standing aside and hoping for the crowd to thin.

Mani Subramanian seemed to be in shock, as he stood near a wine shop in Andheri and stared at the crowd. “I don’t drink that often, but as I have not had a drink during the lockdown, I feel like having a drink today. I stepped down to buy a small bottle of whiskey… But after looking at the crowd, I am scared of standing in the queue because even if a single person here is infected, it would take little time to spread,” he said.

Mumbai Police spokesperson DCP Pranaya Ashok said, “Bandobast has been made at all liquor shops to prevent overcrowding. Patrolling is being intensified. Strict action will be taken against all violators of lockdown guidelines.”