People rush to buy alcohol as Kerala introduces virtual queue via apps

Over 200,000 people downloaded and registered in BevQ, an Andriod application within hours after it went live on Google play store, ahead of the reopening of liquor shops in Kerala on Thursday.

BevQ is an app for the virtual queue system which was introduced by the state government to control the crowds in front of the liquor shops in Kerala amid the Covid-19 induced lockdown.

According to Kerala-based Faircode technologies, the company which developed the application to book liquor, "About 1,82,000 users registered in the initial two hours from 10 PM to 12 midnight on Wednesday."

"Approx 50,000 users registered between 2 AM to 6:30 AM on Thursday. The token booking for May 28 was extended up to 9 AM on Thursday. The booking was extended for the users who were not able to book a token yesterday," said Naveen George, Chief Financial Officer, Faircode technologies.

"The App is live on google play store, it will take some time till the App is indexed by Google and available via search. The users can try to search using the application using 'pub: Kerala State Beverages Corporation' in the play store," he added.

The application can be registered with name and pin code, as it sends an OTP for verification purposes. After that, a customer has to make the choice of wine or liquor. The App gives the detail of the shop along with the time slot allotted and a QR code.

A customer has to go to the allotted liquor shop and produce the e-token which will be scanned in the liquor outlets prior to the selling of liquor. Bars are also allowed to sell the liquor as a parcel through the counters following the same system.

Also, an SMS facility to the book has been introduced for those who are not using smartphones. The booking can be done from 6 AM to 10 PM and liquor sales are allowed from 9 AM to 5 PM.

Following the social distancing norms, only five people are allowed in front of the counter at a time.

Meanwhile, police have made it clear that cases will be slapped against those who enter liquor shops without the mandatory App generated token.