Extend liquor vend opening hours, demand contractors

Ludhiana: Resentment among liquor contractors and vend owners against the closing timing of 6.30pm is high after no action has been taken on their demand of extending the time of operation of vends. Recently, liquor traders had met deputy commissioner, Ludhiana, and submitted a memorandum to the state government via him demanding that they be allowed to open their vends post 6.30pm as they were facing huge losses since their major sales take place only in the late evening hours.
According to businessmen, they are now going to demand refund of their licence fee from the excise department as the hefty fee paid by them was in accordance with closing time of 11pm, but now they were getting five hours less to operate their business.
Speaking on the issue, liquor trader Shallu Garg of Singla Group said, “As the authorities have not extended the operating hours of liquor vends, we are now going to meet the senior officials of the excise department and demand refund of fee paid by us as per our contracts, which had the condition that operating hours of vends will be till 11pm. We understand that right now the situation is not such that we can operate till 11pm, but we should at least be allowed to operate till 8.30 or 9pm as how can you expect the customers to come to our vends for buying liquor when they will get free from their work at 6.30pm. Besides, by the time they reach vends they would these closed as the deadline for us too is 6.30pm. So, in the current circumstances there is no scope of doing any business until the closure timing for vends is increased and public is also allowed to make purchases from vends during this extended time.”
According to another liquor trader Parminder Sharma of Chadha group, “Liquor traders are suffering massive losses due to the 6.30pm deadline as in routine 80% of the customers turn up at vends after 7.30or 8pm and moreover with the timing of closure of shops, offices at 6.30pm the people working there can not make purchases from us while on their way to their homes because vends also shut down at 6.30pm. Our biggest customers are factory workers who too are unable to buy liquor these days because there is no restriction on operation of factories and their shifts usually get over at 7pm or even later and therefore they too cannot make purchase from vends. All liquor traders are at receiving end and the quantum of losses being suffered by us is so huge that it is becoming impossible for us to absorb such losses. Therefore, we request the excise department to refund our licence fee by adjusting it according to the 6.30pm closing time or extend the opening hours.”
Meanwhile, city’s booze lovers too want the working hours of the vends extended or home delivery started. Speaking to TOI on condition of anonymity a resident of BRS Nagar said, “The government should allow home delivery of liquor as we are facing problems in buying liquor since almost everyone, whether he in a job or in business he will get free at 6.3pm and by then all vends shut down. Moreover, there is lockdown on Saturday and Sunday and we cannot go out to fetch liquor from vends. So, it is better to allow home delivery or extend the working hours of the vends.”