KOLKATA: The relaxations allowing retail outlets to remain open for three hours in a day has come up as a reason to delight for tipplers as liquor shops too are remaining open from 12 noon to 3 pm from Tuesday.
The liquor shops reopened on Tuesday after remaining completely closed since May 15 when additional restrictions were imposed by the state "with a stricter containment approach".
Though the retail liquor outlets remain closed for the past 15 days, the home delivery facility of the same against online booking had continued.
According to the sources in the state excise department, the day's sale of liquor had considerably dropped when the retail outlets remained closed in the past 15 days.
"The usual sale every day remains around Rs 50 crore. But, with only home delivery facilities remaining available, when the shops remain closed, the sale was something between Rs 15 crore to Rs 20 crore per day," said a state government officer. This came when there was a considerable drop in sales as well when shops in different parts of the state used to remain closed in phases due to the eight-phase elections.
The officer said: "The sale had dropped by at least around 10 to 20 percent in those months."