Liquor shops open in Maharashtra, but with guidelines
As lockdown 3.0 comes into effect from today, the Central government has allowed the sale of liquor across various states, but with conditions. Areas in all states have been categorised as red, green and orange zones, according to which the new guidelines have been issued. With this, the Maharashtra government has allowed standalone and neighbourhood shops for non-essential items, including liquor, to reopen across the state. In Pune and Mumbai, strict conditions have been placed as both the cities allow the sale of liquor from today.
As per a Sunday statement, there is a limitation of five non-essential-goods shops per lane in the Mumbai-Pune region (including Pimpri-Chinchwad) and Malegaon. These areas have reported a high rate of coronavirus positive cases.
The concession applies even in the red zone areas of the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR), Pune district and the Malegaon township, though not in containment zones. Standalone shops selling essentials have already been functioning.
As per the new guidelines, liquor manufacturing units in rural and urban areas, and industrial townships, barring MMR and Pune region can restart working. Also, the shops that function should have 50 per cent labour capacity, along with the thermal screening of all staff and sanitization of premises every two hours.
All wine and liquor shops will operate between 10 AM to 6 PM in Mumbai, while the wholesalers will have to shut shops at 5 PM.
The common guidelines for sale of liquor in Pune and Mumbai include:
- timings to open liquor shops will operate from 10 am to 6 pm
- each customer will be screened for a temperature check
- use of hand sanitizers will be a must
- not more than 5 customers should be there at the shop
- people standing in the queue should maintain a distance of 6 feet between them
- consumption of alcohol at or nearby shops not allowed
- no spitting
- premises must be disinfected
“Liquor shops inside malls, in market complexes, hotels and even restaurants will not be allowed to open. And no such shops will be allowed to reopen in containment zones," Principal secretary Bhushan Gagrani has said.
As per the original order of Saturday, standalone non-essential shops were allowed to reopen across the state, except for the districts mentioned above.
Maharashtra, as on Sunday, reported a total of 12,974 coronavirus positive cases. The state also reported 27 more deaths, taking its total death toll to 548.
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