Bengaluru, May 4: Booze lovers ushered in the resumption of liquor sales in a spirited fashion in Karnataka onMonday thronging stores hours before shutters went up at severalplaces and made no secret of their celebratory mood.
At some places, they flocked liquor shops even before day-break and performed "special prayers" with flowers, coconuts,incense sticks, camphor and crackers in front of the stores.
Liquor outlets had been shut in the State from March 25 following the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Excise revenue loss during the period was about Rs 2,500 crore, according to government sources.
About 4,500 standalone liquor outlets (CL-2 and CL- 11licence holders), which comprise wine stores and those owned bystate-run Mysore Sales International Limited, outside containmentzones were allowed to be opened from Monday from 9 am to 7 pm withsome restrictions.
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These include customers compulsorily wearing of facemasks andmaintaining social distancing with not more than five people inside liquor shops.
Many customers were indeed well-prepared.
At many places, they came with umbrella, raincoat, newspapers and books and queued up as early as 3 am.
At a liquor shop in Salegame Road in Hassan, the tipplers lit the traditional lamp and incense sticks, performed 'aarati'with camphor and decorated the store with the garland of flowers.
With folded hands, they all performed 'special prayers'.
In Mandya, the tipplers queued up before Martaanda liquor shop before dawn.
An hour before the sales were to resume, a few people burst crackers in celebration.
Some tipplers in Belagavi were more "enterprising."
They wentto a liquor store on Sunday night itself, performed special prayersand placed their "representatives" in the form of slippers, bags and stones in the "social distancing boxes" they themselves had drawn sothat they don't have to stand in queue in the morning.
An elderly woman Dakamma was the centre of attraction in Shivamogga.
The bent body did not bend the determination of this spirited lady, claimed to be 96-year-old, who was heard saying "liquor is goodfor health."
At the taluk headquarters town of Brahmavara in the coastal Udupi district, the queue of the booze lovers was reported to be almost half-a-kilometre.
Long queues were seen at liquor stores at Mariyappana Palya and K R Puram, among others, in Bengaluru.
The store managers too were no less cautious while dealing with customers in the COVID era.
They let the customers enter after spraying sanitisers in their hands, and allowed only those who hadworn masks and maintained social distancing.
To maintain law and order, authorities had deployed policemen in good numbers at these stores and they were seen on duty ensuring that customers maintained social distancing.
Comments
Is Modi Govt taking care of indians or UK. Is he PM for UK or India. He has already sold India in the hands of foreign investers and now selling indian assets also which was inherited from old kings. May be Modi will sell Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar, Vidhana soudha, Srirangapatna Mandir, Kollur Mandir to foreigners and make money for bjp and its supporters. shame on you bjp Govt. It will be better to kick out this Govt very soon otherwise we Indians will be completely sold out to foreigners. Beware of this looter's Govt.
Cheddi fans are BLINDLY supporting him. Start opening your EYES ... Looters have no issue and those helper who in the first place helped the british to loot the KOHInoor has no issue... Its not new.
Modi Govt. is a very big fake and rubbish Govt. any promise they fulfilled till now..?, hope their term will complete very soon after that only Acche Din will come..
After all RSS is the agent of British raj. How can they go against their
will ? THE REAL NAME OF RSS IS ROYAL SECRET SERVICE, which was giving then British rulers information about indian freedom fighters.
They are their sole agent then and even now.!
BLACK MONEY BHI NAHI KHOHINOOR BHI NAHI
Waah thief waah!!!
Next he will tell British never invaded India.
We invited them to learn to wear bikini.
RSS is the enemy of India.
It did not surprise me... We know cheddis partner during freedom struggle...
I think Kohinoor diamond belongs to Mugals (Shahajan). how Ranjith Sing is gifting British
Yes, its nice to see it with queen rather than kept here in India...someone will take it if it is kept here....can't trust....
Same like \National Herald is gifted to Sonia Gandhi and not looted by her\" as claimed by Congress party."
If a slave gives a \gift\" to his master, there is always room for reinterpreting the idea behind the \"gift\". But if the new masters are not different from the old, how can this happen? This is the tragedy of India - and this is why we ought to see that the Cong, BJP, CPI etc are actually a continuation of the British colonial legacy. You can defeat them in some cricket matches, but when it comes to substantive issues, you concede the match even before it begins. This is the colonialism of the mind."
Look like air leaking from 56inch chest.
Soon it will be 26 inch.
This decision of govt also justify
British rule over India.
Shame on BJP.
bjp and rss revere godse, the criminal who brutally killed Gandhiji. bjp/rss are agents of british
We want Kohinoor back, who is government to tell them to keep it and they then call themselves as nationaliats. These are real anti-nationals and agents of British.
@Tolerant Indian: Disappointing. The Brits don't deserve our Kohinoor. But if was a gift, then we shouldn't be expecting it back. Blame our Maharaja of Punjab. Height of MASKA GIRI.
Tolerant Indian: spineless modi. Kohinoor belongs to India. it is India's shaan. lalit modi now vijay mallaya took our money to UK. farmers and poor are committing suicide and government gifting riches to other countries.
@Tolerant Indian: Indians have the generosity to make the world rich, by gifting and stashing money in foreign countries!
We have had gifted everything to British during British rule! And now our Rich Indians started gifting by moving out of the country to get settled in UK? There is no surprise, everything is fine in Love to English!
Bring Kohinoor Back Kohinoor was our heritage, it should be brought back.
Kohinoor wasn't a gift. But a war prize that was pushed down our throats by sly East India Co. Better revise stand.
Everyone knows that RSS is always acted as British agent.
Kohinoor was not stolen from India. It was merely abducted. Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
Someone just told me 'we have enough gems in the govt, who needs Kohinoor.'
Okay Britain, let's do a deal. You give us back on thing we gave you - Kohinoor. We'll give you back one thing you gave us - Section 377.
modi govt run by buffoons: Kohinoor gifted by Ranjit Singh to brits? he died in 1839, brits snatched diamond in 1849!
After all, the difference between \gifted\" and \"lifted\" is just one letter."
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