ate on Friday evening, the The Ministry of Home Affairs announced that liquor stores and paan shops will be allowed to function in green zones while ensuring a distance of six feet from each other and ensuring that not more five people are present at one time at the shop.
Standalone alcohol shops can be allowed to open in orange and green zones, sources told CNN-News18 even as the government passed an order to extend the nationwide lockdown by two weeks beyond May 4. The sources added any standalone shop, including those selling alcohol, will be allowed in orange and green zones.
As news of the ‘liqour ban’ in India lifted, desi netizens queued up on-line to celebrate – but with puzzlement, wondering what would happen if they turned up at the liqour shops and were the ‘6th person,’ and also on the vagueness of the order.
Liquor shops to remain closed in red zone. Stock on auction. Start bidding before I start using these as sanitiser. pic.twitter.com/bXMqqB2T8Q
— Sapna Madan / सपना मदान (@sapnamadan) May 1, 2020
In the Red Zone, liquor shops, however, will remain closed.
In other zones, Shops selling liquor, paan, gutka, tobacco, etc in public places have to ensure that customers maintain a minimum of six-feet distance from each other, and not more than five persons are allowed to be present in the shop at one time.