This story is from July 1, 2020

Odisha allows counter sale of liquor from today

As the Unlock-1 ended on Tuesday, the state government has decided to restore offline or counter sale of liquor from Wednesday. Liquor shops, which were shut in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic since March 22, were allowed to sell the alcoholic beverage only through online booking and home delivery on May 25.
Odisha allows counter sale of liquor from today
Image used for representational purpose only
BHUBANESWAR: As the Unlock-1 ended on Tuesday, the state government has decided to restore offline or counter sale of liquor from Wednesday. Liquor shops, which were shut in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic since March 22, were allowed to sell the alcoholic beverage only through online booking and home delivery on May 25.
Excise department said the online booking of liquor and home delivery will continue despite the restoration of counter sale from Wednesday.
The sale of liquor across counters will be allowed only between 7am and 6pm. Bars, however, will continue to remain shut.
“It is over a month since we allowed online and home delivery of liquor. Now, we do not apprehend crowding outside counters. We have drawn a standard operating procedure for the retailers to ensure regulation of crowd at counters,” an excise official said.
To avoid congregation of buyers at the counters, the excise department has introduced e-token system that mandates people to first seek an online appointment from the retailers before visiting the counters for liquor. “We advise buyers to browse Odisha state beverage corporation’s portal www.oscb.co.in for appointment (slot booking) from shops and avail e-token to visit the liquor counters. The appointment and timing of visit will be sent to mobile phone of the buyer,” the excise official said.
The buyers will continue to pay “special Covid fee" on every purchase of liquor. While introducing online/home delivery of liquor on May 25, the state government levied the special Covid fee and increased the maximum retail prices (MRPs) of all types of foreign liquor and beer by 50% of the MRPs of 2019-20.
Liquor retailers have been asked to erect barricades outside their counters to facilitate queues with mandatory provisions of social distancing and masks among buyers. Local excise and police personnel have been instructed to regularly patrol around the counters to enforce the rules. District collectors have been authorized to seal the counters if they come across any violations.
According to the excise department, the liquor shops along with five food aggregators, who have been allowed to receive online orders and place home delivery of liquor, have so far executed 17.33 lakh home deliveries from May 25. They have so far sold nearly 20.59 lakh litres of IMFL and 20.81 lakh litres of beer across the state.
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About the Author
Debabrata Mohapatra

Debabrata Mohapatra is an Assistant Editor at The Times of India, Bhubaneswar. He had been writing for TOI from Puri since 2006 before joining the Bhubaneswar bureau in August 2010. He covers crime, law & order and Congress.

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