Liquor available at hefty price in Vizianagaram

Vizianagaram: Though bars in the district are closed due to nationwide lockdown, liquor is being sold from the backdoor of the bars as the excise staff turned a blind eye and pretending as if they do not know about the illegal activity.

As many as 28 bars in Vizianagaram district were declared closed as part of lockdown. During initial days of lockdown, people like daily labour, workers and technicians who are habituated to drinking alcohol struggled to get their peg during evening.

This situation became an opportunity for the bar managements, and they started selling the stock from the back door. The excise officials who have to monitor the bars and control the illegal activities are simply pretending as if the bars remain closed. Now the boozers are forced to purchase the liquor bottles by paying three times the regular price. Now the drunkards have been spending around Rs 3,000 per bottle, which costs around Rs 1000 in normal days. There are nine bars in Parvathipuram excise division and 19 bars in Vizianagaram excise superintendent jurisdiction. All the bars have allegedly been selling the liquor at abnormal prices and making money.

The boozers have been getting the liquor from the back door and enjoying. The daily labour like auto drivers and construction workers are struggling with financial crisis as they have no work. However, they need to spend around Rs 500 per day to buy alcohol from the back door. All the brands like Signature, Blender's Pride, Antiquity are being sold between Rs 5000 and Rs 7000 based on the requirement of the customer.