Govt will take decision soon on reopening of liquor shops in Pondy: CM

The Puducherry government will

soon take a decision on reopening liquor shops in the Union Territory, where outlets selling IMFL, arrack and toddy remain shut due to COVID 19 lockdown for over a month.

Chief Minister V Narayanasamy told reporters at his daily briefing on Thursday that his government was now facing a serious setback in its revenue as excise was a major source of income to meet its commitments.

"With the closure of the liquor shops, the territorial administration is suffering a heavy loss of revenue," he noted.

The neighbouring Tamil Nadu has allowed liquor outlets to restart business from Thursday.

As far as Puducherry is concerned the administration would take a decision through a meeting of the cabinet in the next few days.

 

"I have already held discussions with the owners of the shops to enlist their views on the issue and again I will have parleys with the licensees to decide on reopening of the outlets," he said.

Puducherry had been "traditionally a wet zone" and liquor business is a major source to mop up income to the government.

On the active COVID-19 cases, Narayanasamy said there werefor some days now two active cases in Puducherry and one in Mahe region, an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala.

Meanwhile, a person from neighbouring Villupuram had approached the centrally-administered JIPMER here for a check up for COVID 19 on Wednesday.

The person had been to Koyambedu recently and returned to Villupuram.

"He underwent a check up in JIPMER where the testing found him to be negative for Covid-19. His mother is working in JIPMER."

However, the patient approached the Indira Gandhi Government Medical college hospital on Thursday for a test and has been found to be positive for the virus following which he was quarantined at the Puducherry hospital, the Chief Minister said.

"The police and revenue officials are collecting details about persons who had come into contact with him for contact tracing," he added.

Narayanasamy reiterated his stand that the Centre should leave to the States the right to decide which area should be orange, green or red zones as only the state governments know the ground realities.