Private liquor shops to close from today, 300 govt vends to take over retail sale: Officials

New Delhi: Private liquor shops will be a thing of the past in the capital as they will be replaced by over 300 Delhi government vends from Thursday owing to the switch over from the Excise Policy 2021-22 to the old regime, officials said on Wednesday.

Nearly 250 private liquor vends, licensed under now-withdrawn Excise Policy 2021-22, are running currently in the city.

Some of the private vends having stocks saw crowd outside as they offered schemes like buy one to get one free. The Excise department had already notified the private licensees that they will not be allowed in retail liquor sale beyond August 31.

People thronged a vend near Welcome Metro station to avail the buy one get one free scheme.

According to officials, the rebates and schemes offered earlier under Excise Policy 2021-22 will not be available as liquor stores will be opened by government undertakings from Thursday. The six shops at domestic terminal of IGI airport run by private operators will be shut on Thursday, hampering availability. Liquor will be available at duty free shops of the airport, they said.

The number of private liquor vends under the Excise Policy 2021-22 had gone up to around 650 but later, the license holders surrendered their licenses due to different reasons, including restriction on opening stores in non-conforming areas in the city.

The Excise Policy 2021-22 was withdrawn by the Delhi government last month, after LG VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation.

The Excise officials said the liquor supply will improve from first week of September due to opening of more shops.

"Currently, there are nearly 250 private shops that will be replaced by over 300 government vends. So there will be more shops and the number will grow further in the coming days as 500 shops are planned to be opened by four Delhi government undertakings," said a senior Excise department officer.

Several government vends will be located in malls and near Metro stations.