Liquor shops get exemption from weekend curbs in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW: In a relief to tipplers, the UP government has allowed liquor shops to remain open during the weekend curbs. Shops will remain open from 10 am to 9 pm on all days but the government has specified that it will not allow drinking in public places.

UP started implementing restrictions over weekends, starting at 10 pm on Fridays and ending at 5 am on Mondays, from July 10 in view of the rising number of Covid cases. During this period, all shops, malls, grain wholesale markets, restaurants etc remain closed in an effort to discourage people from venturing out.
On Thursday, the government issued an order, exempting retail shops selling beer, model shops, foreign and country made liquor, and bhang, from this order. However, this order is not applicable on those shops which are located within containment areas.
Those shops which have been allowed to function will also remain open from 10 am to 9 pm, including the weekends.
Additional chief secretary (excise) Sanjay Bhoosreddy said that in another clarification on the rule that liquor vends should remain open for 12 hours, if, due to a pandemic, law and order situation or some natural calamity, the district magistrate concerned wanted to alter the time of operation, he or she can only do so after seeking permission from the excise commissioner. The decision was in the light of unilateral decisions taken by DMs and commissioners in various districts during the past few weeks of closing down vends earlier than the scheduled time of closure, he said.
The Liquor Seller Welfare Association welcomed the decision, saying that they had been facing major losses as a large part of their sales took place over the weekend. Kanhaiya Lal Maurya, the general secretary of the association, said that they had written to both the Lucknow DM and the excise commissioner on July 15, apprising them of the difficulties they were facing.
“During this period, various districts had started closing down shops at all hours, from 5 pm to 8 pm, even though there was an order to keep them open till 9 pm. Secondly, the weekend closure meant that we were losing a lot of our sales and licensees were finding it difficult to meet their monthly quota specifications. This would lead to excise losses for the government too and we had requested that liquor vends be exempt from this rule,” Maurya said.