Maharashtra: Liquor shops remain shut in 1/3rd of state

Till Monday evening, collectors of 10 districts had exercised powers vested in them under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, to order standalone alcohol retailers to remain close.

These include five of the 14 red zone districts, namely Satara, Solapur, Aurangabad, Akola and Yavatmal. Fearing a further spread of the infection, Parbhani, Nanded, Jalna, Beed and Hingoli districts — all orange zones — too, have disallowed liquor vends. Three others, Wardha, Gadchiroli (green zone) and Chandrapur (orange zone) are dry districts.

Parbhani Collector D M Mugalikar said the local administration wants the district to turn into a green zone as soon as possible.

The Marathwada district has only reported two cases so far. Mugalikar argued that in both cases, the infected were found to have travelled to parts of the state where cases have been reported. “We’ve decided not to permit liquor shops till at least May 10. The local administration feels crowding at such shops can risk infection. We do not want to take chances,” he said.

In fact, Parbhani has decided to retain all curbs that were in place before May 3. “Our orders were issued before the state government’s order,” said Mugalikar. While contending that he was consulting his superiors, Mugalikar maintained that he intends to persist with the move.

Uday Chaudhari, Collector of Aurangabad, the only Marathwada district in the red zone, concurred with Mugalikar. “We have issued orders not to allow opening of liquor shops in the district.”

While most of the cases in Aurangabad have been reported in the municipal corporation area, Chaudhari said that liquor stores won’t be permitted even outside civic limits. While the state excise department had on Sunday issued orders regarding precautionary measures liquor shopowners would be require, Chaudhari argued that it would not have been possible to ensure social distancing at all such stores. “It is also difficult to ask people running such shops to adopt precautionary measures,” he said.

Incidentally, six out of the eight districts in Marathwada, the least-hit region in Maharashtra, have disallowed opening of liquor vends, while Osmanabad, a green district that hasn’t reported a single case so far, has permitted such shops to run between 10 am and 1 pm, for three days a week. Of the six green districts in the state, it is the sole one to permit alcohol sale.

Senior officials said that so far, only 15 districts have permitted liquor shops to run. Eight others — Gondia, Sindhudurg, Washim (green), Palghar, Dhule (red), Bhandara, Buldhana, and Amravati (orange) — were yet to decide on it.

Nagpur Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe also did not permit the liquor shops in his jurisdiction to function, even as these have been allowed elsewhere in the district. Nagpur is also in the red zone.

Excise Commissioner Kantilal Umap, meanwhile, said that teams will inspect shops to ensure all precautionary measures are in place. “We would be strictly monitoring the situation,” he added. Maharashtra has 1,600 registered wine shops, 4,300 beer shops and 4,800 country liquor shops.