Telangana govt relaxes lockdown timings for liquor shops across state

While all the 2,182 wine shops will go back to their pre-lockdown regular timings, the pubs and bar restaurants will continue to remain closed.
Image of a man holding liquor bottles
Image of a man holding liquor bottles
Written by:

The Prohibition and Excise Department of the Telangana government on Monday relaxed the lockdown on wine shops, allowing them to function during their regular timings of 10 am-11 pm in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, and 10 am-10 pm in the rest of the state.  Previously, the wine shops were functioning only until 9.30 pm.

The decision came following the Unlock 3.0 guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which revoked the night curfew. While all the 2,182 wine shops will go back to their pre-lockdown regular timings, the pubs and bar restaurants will continue to remain closed.  

In Telangana, wine shops were reopened on May 6, after a 45-day shutdown owing to the coronavirus pandemic. All wine shops have been strictly instructed to follow the protocol of ‘No mask, no liquor.’ 

According to the wine shop owners, they have lost at least Rs 160 crore towards licence fee during the lockdown.

“We were in losses first when shops stayed closed for 45 days and then due to the truncated timings when we had to close early. Since most customers pick up their favourite tipples such as beer or a whiskey after work, it was affecting our sales when shops had to close during peak hours. Although the patronage for liquor has been hit by the financial crisis, we are hopeful that new timings will at least bring in more profit,” Telangana State Wine Dealers’ Association President, D Venkateshwarlu, was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express. 

Meanwhile, on Monday, Telangana recorded 1286 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths. The government also informed that 1,066 patients had recovered from the disease on Sunday. Presently, the state has 18,708 active cases of which 11,935 of them are under home isolation.

The percentage of deaths due to COVID-19 was 46.13% while 53.87% of them died due to comorbidities.

 

Related Stories

No stories found.
The News Minute
www.thenewsminute.com