State allows home delivery of liquor

KOLKATA: To prevent another deluge that occured after liquor shops were opened, taking a step ahead after introducing an e-portal, Bengal government is now launching a mobile phone app using which online order for liquor to get home delivery can be placed easily. The initiative has been taken to avoid gathering at liquor shops. On the first day after the shops had reopened, the police had a trying time in managing long queues of buyers. Even they had to take strict measures to quell the crowd who flouted lockdown protocol. "The use of app will make procurement of liquor trouble free. A person intending to buy a bottle or two will be able to do by using the app. He will not have to stand in long queues spending hours risking the spread of COVID-19 as physical distancing is difficult in such a situation when many people come out to buy liquor," said an official. The app will be launched on Monday and it can be accessed from the website of the state Excise directorate. The talks are on to makethe app available in playstoreso that it can be easily downloaded. District wise lists containing names and location of shops will be available in the app. At the same time the stock available in a shop will also be mentioned along with their names. Online payment can also be done through the app.

At present the same can be done by clicking on a link available on the website of the state Excise directorate. But tomake the task easier, the decision has been taken to introduce an app as well. But order will get declined if one is placing order through online from any containment zones.

This comes when the state recorded a revenue generation of around Rs 75 crore in the past three days after the off-shops reopened on Monday.

Individual shops have to make their own arrangement to give home delivery of liquor and necessary steps will also be taken to ensure that deliv-ery men do not get stopped by the police.