: The opening of liquor vends in
Andhra Pradesh on Monday as part of implementing the relaxed guidelines on lockdown led to chaos with people lining up outside liquor shops, ignoring physical distancing norms.
A report from SPS Nellore district that one person collapsed and died of sunstroke while waiting to buy liquor at Podalakuru village, but the Superintendent of Police Bhaskar Bhushan denied any such incident.]
"Nothing of that sort happened in my district, he told PTI over phone.
Technical glitches in computers in government-run liquor outlets caused abnormal delay in sales.
In border districts like Chittoor, SPS Nellore, East Godavari and Krishna, tipplers from neighbouring states Tamil Nadu and Telangana joined the serpentine queues since Monday morning to purchase liquor.
The crowd was so heavy that at a couple of places the sale had to be suspended to maintain order.
The Group of Ministers was to meet on Monday to take decisions on how to implement the Centres new guidelines on relaxing the lockdown, but it was abruptly cancelled.
Though the Medical and Health Department issued a Covid Instant Order 43 late on Sunday night on implementing the Centres new guidelines, they have not apparently percolated to the districts as all restrictions were in place on Monday.
Shops even outside the (Covid-19) containment zones remained shut while police put up barricades on all main roads blocking the movement of traffic.
Even with respect to liquor shops, despite clear instructions from the Chief Ministers Office, some District Collectors did not issue corresponding orders due to which police did not allow the outlets to open at the stipulated time (11 am), though people queued up before them from 10 am.
Of the 3,500 shops in the state, only about 313 were opened till noon in various districts, as per the report prepared by the Excise Department.
In some districts, the liquor shops were finally opened after 1 pm, but there was no order due to heavy crowds.
As the state government issued an order after Sunday midnight enhancing the liquor rates, the computation of new prices in the systems did not happen, resulting in chaos.
Also, scanning the price tag proved to be a slow process, causing delay in sales.
Such complaints were received from districts like Visakhapatnam, Chittoor and SPS Nellore.
At Yetapaka in East Godavari district, people from Telangana joined the queues outside the shops as sale of liquor did not resume in the neighbouring state.
At Palasamudram in Chittoor district, reports here said, people from Tamil Nadu came in hordes to purchase liquor, forming a mob.
At the behest of Tamil Nadu authorities, the AP officials suspended liquor sale here to restore order.
Similar reports came in from Tada area in SPS Nellore district bordering Tamil Nadu.
The two liquor outlets here were shut because of the unprecedented rush.
Of the total 195 liquor vends in SPS Nellore district, 14 were closed down because of overcrowding, official sources here said.
We are waiting for clear inputs on the number of shops opened in different districts today.
In some districts, shops could not be opened because the Collectors did not issue appropriate orders, a top Excise official said.
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