BENGALURU: The longest queues on Monday morning were seen outside liquor stores. People thronged as early as 7 am, even though stores opened at 9 am. The rush was so much that police had to be deployed for crowd management. Interestingly by about 3 pm, most of the stores ran out of stock and started to close down, having sold a total of about 16,000 litre as against 1 lakh litre per day in the pre-lockdown period. “It is the first time that all stocks got over and my store is completely empty.
I had opened at 9.30 am and was welcomed by a long queue of customers. Initially, I didn’t put any limit, but as the queue started growing, I decided to sell only two bottles per person, so that everyone benefits,” said Somanna, a liquor store owner on Magadi Road. Irrespective of the type of the store (retail or MSL), queues were very long. Age and gender played no role in the sales and in queues.
Though at some places, a separate ladies line was also maintained. Handicapped were given liquor without any restrictions. At some retail outlets the quantity was fixed — two bottles per customer — and at MSIL, it was four quarters. Some made their wives and sisters stand in queues only to get more bottles, but on Magadi Road, a man made his father stand in the queue, just to get extra bottles. At some other stores, people did not mind standing in the queue twice. “I have already got three bottles. I have kept them in my bike. Now I am standing again to get three more,” said a customer on Mysuru Road.
“We came at 4 am and kept our footwear on the boxes to get a full stock as soon as the shop opened. But the shopkeeper said he would give only four quarters per person. So we had to stand twice to get more bottles,” said customers from Peenya. Many even got into arguments and fights. Some were also seen making advance booking for the next day.
MASKS THROWN TO THE WINDS
It was a near normal day in the city on Monday, as the lockdown was partially lifted. While most shops were open and people queued up outside liquor shops, many people simply forgot their masks. Not wanting to return emptyhanded after standing in a queue for two hours, one man removed his T-shirt and covered his mouth and nose with it, so that he could get his bottles! A senior BBMP official admitted that it was impossible to check as the crowd was unexpectedly large on Monday. In some places, the BBMP penalised people for not wearing masks, collecting Rs 89,455 in fines. The highest amount was collected from east zone (Rs 21,305), followed by Rs 16,200 from Bommanahalli. Yelahanka saw the lowest figures with an amount of Rs 3,150.