The salesmen at liquor shops were whiling away their time and staring at their handsets on and off on Monday in complete contrast to brisk business that they did six days ago when they could hardly take their eyes off customers who had formed long queues across the counters.
The customers were a trickle at the outlets which left the painted circles and squares in front of the premises of no use. The policemen who stood guard at the shops on day one to regulate the queues were nowhere to be seen.
The turnaround in the scenes was attributed to initial craving for liquor dying down among the haves and depletion of cash in the hands of have-nots. The homeward journey of migrant workers was also cited as one of the reasons.
Home delivery option
After unprecedented crowds at shops on Wednesday, which was day one after 45 dry days due to lockdown, the business saw a lower trend next day and going down further on Friday afternoon and Saturday due to panic buying on Supreme Court's orders asking State governments to explore home delivery of liquor. The panic, however, subsided on Sunday.
The beverages corporation, which is the nodal agency for supplying stocks to the shops, reported sales of ₹190.5 crore on Friday, up from ₹73 crore on first day, and going down to ₹148 crore on Saturday and just ₹37 crore on Sunday. The steep decline in off take from depots of the corporation on Sunday was also attributed to bank holiday because the owners had to issue DDs for purchases. They were generally ready with the DDs a day in advance but they were weary of going ahead on Saturday because of the judgment, said a corporation official.
Savings run out
He added that the corporation sales picked up beyond ₹100 crore on Monday but the picture at shops itself was dismal.
Sakollu Ashok Kumar of Ashoknagar in Hyderabad summed up the mood as he turned up at a shop near Indira Park. As one who washed utensils at restaurants in day and worked as night watchman at an apartments complex nearby, he said he spent all his savings out of not drinking in 45 days in the last five days. Having exhausted his money, he pleaded his son who was standing beside him to buy him a drink which he would repay on getting his next salary. This version that people had run out of money was corroborated by a salesman at a shop near Kachiguda railway station, Sunil Yadav.
A shop owner said his daily sales turnover was to the tune of ₹3 lakh but he was not sure whether he will get even half of it if the trend continued. He added that it was a huge drain on their revenue as they will not be able to recover their daily licence fee of ₹35,000 in GHMC limits and establishment charges of ₹5,000.