After chaos ruled the streets on day 1 of relaxations in lockdown in different parts of the country and opening of liquor shops, many states had to come out with a revised relaxation order.
The Delhi government imposed a ¡°special corona cess¡± of 70 per cent on sales of liquor in stores. After videos of social distancing being flouted went viral on social media, concerns around the spread of the virus became intense.???
However, people found a new way to queue up at liquor stores after being in lockdown for close to 50 days. In Karnataka¡¯s Hubli, people used water bottles, bags, helmets, slippers etc to reserve their places in the queue, outside liquor shops.
Even yesterday, people in Bengaluru placed their slippers inside the boxes to reserve their place outside liquor stores.
Police swung batons on Monday to beat back thirsty Indians jostling to buy alcohol for the first time in 40 days as the government eased further the world's biggest coronavirus lockdown.
Some state leaders had pushed for liquor stores to be reopened earlier, saying the money from alcohol sales was a major source of tax revenue.
After Delhi's 70 per cent cess, the Andhra Pradesh government has enhanced prices of liquor by another 50 per cent on Tuesday, only a day after imposing a 25 per cent hike as shops were reopened in relaxation of the ongoing lockdown.
The state government also decided to open liquor outlets from 12 noon, instead of 11 am, till 7 pm.
Sources said the fresh hike (50 per cent) in rates could fetch an additional revenue of Rs 9,000 crore per annum to the cash-starved state government.