Pune: Home Delivery Of Liquor Allowed But Shop Owners Say Not Feasible For Business

Sumit Singh

Pune, 14 April 2021: Amid curbs to contain the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) have allowed home delivery of liquor from Monday to Friday from 7 am to 6 pm.

Wine shops and bars with a valid license have been allowed to deliver alcoholic drinks and Indian-made foreign liquor at the customers’ homes as per the guidelines, informed Santosh Zagade, Superintendent at State Excise Office, Pune.

“There are no separate guidelines for home delivery of liquor. The wine shopowners can put their contact number and details in front of their shops so that customers can directly call them and request the home delivery of liquor. However, alcohol cannot be delivered in areas declared as micro-containment zones,” Zagade further informed.

“We have received permission for home delivery of liquor but it is not possible to survive only on home delivery services as the government has imposed so many protocols that need to be followed”, said Abhay Sawant, a member of PDWMA.

“The government has made RT-PCR test for COVID-19 compulsory for the delivery person and it is taking around three to five days to receive the reports. Also, the liquor shops only have two to three employees for delivery,” Sawant added.

“Home delivery of lower-cost alcohol can not be managed as we have never done it and there is a limit set for it by the Excise Department. Some of the wine shop owners had opened one shutter for home delivery but people start crowding outside it in large numbers. The person ordering the liquor also needs to have a drinking license (permit) which can also be procured at the wine shops for Rs 5. All the liquor shop owners have decided to close the shops and not to go for this option as it creates chaos,” he further said.

Pradeep Bisht, an IT professional, said, “We have read the guidelines that home delivery of liquor is allowed but most of the contact numbers of the wine shops mentioned on Google are not working. A few of them are working, but when we call them, they say that the shop is shut or they don’t have the home delivery service available.”

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