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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.

Bengaluru, Jun 9: Two grassroots level workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday filed their nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka, Chief Minister and senior BJP leader BS Yediyurappa said.

"Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti have filed nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka. It is only in BJP that grassroots level workers are given recognition," Yediyurappa told reporters here.

The elections to fill the vacant 18 Rajya Sabha seats from seven states are scheduled to be held on June 19. Elections to four Rajya Sabha seats will be held in Karnataka.

"The core committee of the party had recommended a few names. Afterwards, the party's all-India president consulted with me. Finally, these two names were finalised," Yediyurappa said.

The nominations will be scrutinised on Wednesday and the last date for withdrawal of nomination is June 12.

Notably, the Janata Dal (Secular) on Monday announced that party supremo and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda has decided to contest the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

Bengaluru, Apr 29: A fire incident was reported inside the premises of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) on Wednesday morning.

According to official sources, the fire was noticed at the Forge and Foundry division in the HAL complex and as many as eight fire tenders are engaged in fighting the mishap.

According to initial reports, the fire was noticed at a stockyard, where magnesium stockpile caught fire.

The fire fighters had cordoned off the entire area in the vicinity and the fire has been contained.

No casualties had been reported, due to the incident, the sources added.