Hyderabad: Shuttered wine shops sold stocks to tipplers on the sly

Hyderabad: The State government served notices on many licensed liquor outlets for violating the orders to maintain the liquor stocks without any sale in the lockdown period. Wine shops gave a big shock to the state Excise and Prohibition department as the liquor stocks in the stores are shown nearly 50 per cent less than they stocked before the day the lockdown imposed from March-end in the State.

The Excise officials on Tuesday undertook a surprise visit to the majority of liquor shops located in Green and Orange zones following the strong indication of opening of the wine shops in two or three days in the State. Sources said that the officials stunned after finding that the liquor stocks were very low in many liquor outlets. The Excise department asked all the licensed liquor traders to maintain liquor stocks with the video evidence.

In the reality, almost all dealers sold out most of the liquor stocks through the backdoor. Taking serious note of it, the officials served notices and asked the traders as to why action should not be taken for ignoring the orders. The dealers were also asked to explain the reasons for diminishing the liquor stocks. Beer stocks were almost empty in many stores as the demand for chilled brew is more in the summer season.

The Excise department has taken up the drive to check the liquor stocks in each shop in the green zone to understand the ground reality in case liquor sales resumed during the lockdown period. Most of the wine shops in Mahbubnagar, rural Rangareddy, Nalgonda, Jangaoan, Warangal, Medak, Nagarkurnool etc were found to be flouting the government instructions to maintain liquor stocks.