Coronavirus / Liquor to be sold via coupons in Jaipur to maintain social distancing

New Delhi: In a bid to maintain social distancing,  Jaipur excise department has issued a fresh directive asking liquor shop owners to give coupons to customers so that they can turn up at the shops depending on the time slot being allowed through the coupon numbers. The decision was taken a day after chaos was witnessed outside liquor shops and social distancing went for the toss across various states.

Speaking to IANS, district excise officer Sunil Bhati said that licence holders should ensure that barricading is being done thoroughly outside the liquor outlets to maintain social distancing and that the customers stand in the circles marked outside the shop at a distance of 1.5 metre each.

At shops where there are long queues, coupons can be issued depending on the time the customers’ turn is expected.

He further added that a few shops were closed on Monday soon after they were opened as social distancing was not being followed.

Earlier on Monday, when India entered the third phase of lockdown, long queues were witnessed outside liquor shops across the country. In several states, people queued up as early as 3 AM and failed to maintain ‘2 gaj doori’, as suggested by PM Modi.

Police personnel were seen trying to manage the crowd outside many outlets where more than five people are not allowed at a given time.  However, there effort yielded no results as crowd refused to abide by the social distancing norms and forced shop owners to shut the outlets.