Liquor shops to open in Lucknow, other dists from today

| | Lucknow
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Liquor shops to open in Lucknow, other dists from today

Thursday, 13 May 2021 | PNS | Lucknow



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A day after shops were opened in select districts on Tuesday, liquor shops in Lucknow, Ayodhya, Azamgarh and some other districts will re-open from Thursday. Liquor business has been hit hard as shops were forced to close for 13-14 days in April and May due to panchayat elections, lockdown and other holidays. Liquor is brisk business in the country’s most populous state and churns out a daily revenue of Rs 100 crore for the government exchequer.  
Lucknow Liquor Sellers’ Welfare Association (LSWA) general secretary KL Maurya and office-bearers Devesh Jaiswal, Shiv Kumar and others welcomed the administration’s decision and said that liquor sellers could now make up for the losses incurred. Maurya said that liquor shop owners will open shops from Thursday following Covid protocols.
A decision to this effect came after the persistent request of liquor sellers who have been facing huge losses (nearly Rs 100 crore per day all across UP) due to closure of shops in lockdown. The sellers were allowed to open shops but with strict adherence to the Covid protocols.
Earlier, the state government had left the decision to allow opening of liquor shops at the discretion of district magistrates in their respective jurisdictions.
Sources said that the closure of liquor shops had caused a loss of revenue to the state government too. In some parts of the state, habitual drinkers turned to those preparing liquor illegally. The closure of shops came as a boon in disguise for those distilling spurious liquor which was already a challenge to the government controlled liquor shops whose business was eclipsed by the sale of hooch.
“Excise department officials, with the help of local police, conducted raids on illicit liquor manufacturers to save the lives of innocent customers and also to prevent depletion of revenue. During the lockdown, the government-controlled shops remained closed which gave an opportunity to illicit liquor manufacturers to mint money,” an excise official said.
“In the recent past, there were reports that people in Etah, Kasganj, Hathras, Azamgarh and Ambedkar Nagar died of consuming illicit liquor. They chose the shops where illicit liquor was being sold. The lockdown and closure of liquor shops gave an opportunity to illicit liquor manufacturers to mint money,” the official said.

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