Delhi: From Sept 1, private liquor shops to close; govt outlets to sell booze again

New Delhi: Come September 1 (Thursday), the national capital will see remarkable change in liquor-selling business.
With private liquor shops becoming a thing of the past, it will be rather a re-run of the previous arrangement, under which government vends used to sell alcohol.

This comes after withdrawal of the Excise Policy 2021-22 by Delhi govt, as Lieutenant Governor flagged series of irregularities & procedural lapses in the newly rolled out policy. LG VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into Delhi’s new liquor policy, following a report by the Chief Secretary that found corruption and procedural lapses during allocation of licences to private operators.

This will also create inconvenience for the city residents as the existing private liquor shops will go off the block and old government shops will return to business. About 300 government vends will return to market, replaced about 250 private liquor shops.

However, the excise officials claimed that since number of govt shops are more than private ones, people won’t face problem. Rather, improved supply of liquor will also help in easy trade.

A mobile app named mAbkaridelhi has also been developed by Excise department for providing information to customers about location of liquor stores in their neighbourhood. The mobile app will be accessible from Google Play Store and may be downloaded in Hindi and English.

A couple of Delhi govt undertakings like – DTTDC, DSSIDC, DSCSC and DCCWS – have been given a target to open 700 liquor shops in the city by year end.

Moreover, the state administration has also permitted restaurants & bars to open microbreweries, apart from retail shops. These microbreweries will serve draught beer. The new excise policy 2021-22 also made provision for microbreweries & take-out options but none could open in the city.