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New Delhi, May 2 (IANS): If liquor is what you have been waiting with bated breath, there's good news for you, even if you happen to be in a red zone like Delhi or Noida.
Now alcohol will be allowed in all zones and so will be tobacco and pan, however, with certain riders. As the Centre extended the current lockdown by another couple of weeks on Friday, the Home Ministry gave this reprieve that set to cheer up many.
However, that privilege is not extended to those living in a containment zone for whom strict adherence to lockdown will remain a must.
For the rest, alcohol sale and purchase is being allowed but only through stand alone shops. Which essentially means one cannot buy or sell them through a shop that is either in a mall or in a shopping complex.
"Liquor stores and pan shops will be allowed to function in all zones while ensuring a minimum six feet distance from each other and ensuring that not more than five persons are present at one time at the shop," the MHA statement said.
In a nutshell, tobacco, alcohol and pan can be sold in all districts of India only barring the hotspots which are sealed by administration and where entry and exit are monitored.
This move seems to have come after continued pressure from the state governments who have been missing on a significant amount of state excise duty that remains essential for it to run other welfare schemes or give salaries to government employees.
In fact, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh wrote to the PM arguing for the same. Moreover, many through social media have been reaching out to key ministers in the government demanding liquor sale be allowed.