Long queues were seen at retail wine shops as they were opened near one-and-half months after lockdown.
The increase in price did not deter buyers who arrived three hours before the shops were opened across the city here on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Hindu, Excise Superintendent of Warangal Rural district, P Srinivas said there are 258 retail wine shops across the erstwhile Warangal district. There are 59 shops in Warangal urban district, 56 in Warangal rural district, 43 in Jangaon district, 52 in Mahabubabad district and 48 in combined Bhupapally and Mulugu districts.
The sale of liquor per day from these retail outlets is around ₹ 150 crore per day and now it may be around ₹ 170 crore as the price was hiked by 16 per cent by the State government.
The Excise department in collaboration with the police department took adequate measures to ensure law and order at these shops on Wednesday. Besides following physical distancing, face masks were made mandatory for customers and sales boys.
Shortage of stock
In Adilabad district, long queues were seen in front of liquor retail shops in old united Adilabad district but not all shops had required stock apparently because much of it was sold away during the lockdown.
The queues ended by afternoon as most customers purchased liquor in more quantity, but there were always a few customers in front of the shops.
New stocks would arrive after the revised price list is circulated for the purpose of filing indents, according to the IMFL Utnoor depot manager Ananthu Srinivas. There was, however, no shortage of beer at present, he said.
The sale of liquor in March this year when the lockdown was announced was worth ₹ 50 crore against the ₹ 66 crore worth sales in March 2019. This was due to the 10 days of business lost due to the closure of retail shops and the depot.
Women in queues
In Sangareddy district, long queues were seen in front of liquor shops from 8 a.m. onwards. Police had a tough time in dealing with the crowds.
At several places women were also found waiting in queues to buy liquor and the queues stretched to more than a kilometre at some places.