Some shops refusing orders below Rs 4,000 for liquor home delivery

Nagpur: Want liquor home delivered? You must place an order worth Rs4,000 and above. If your bill is any lower, the liquor shop owner will simply refuse to deliver.
On being informed of this trend, TOI contacted many wine shop owners in the city and found if you place an order between Rs4,000 and Rs8,000, only then will liquor be home delivered. “We will deliver at your door step only if the order is above Rs4,000,” said a wineshop owner from Pardi area when TOI tried to verify the claim.
“I was shocked when the wine shop owner informed me that he would not accept the order unless it is more than Rs4,000. The shop owner cannot force people to buy high quantity of liquor to get it home delivered,” said a miffed Rajesh Gupta.
Another wine shop on Kamptee Road has a similar rule. “If you place an order of Rs5,000 and above, then only you will get home delivery,” the shop owner said. He justified the rider for home delivery and argued, “For one delivery, my boy takes an hour. If the quantum of order is more, we can afford it. Otherwise, we will end up supplying small orders, which will not only waste our time but bring less revenue.”
A senior states excise department official said it was wrong on the part of the wine shop owners to set such a condition. The official said if the department gets complaints, action will be initiated against such wine shop owners. He said that the wine shop owners might be doing this as they have to deploy a boy to deliver liquor. “If the quantum is less, he may suffer a loss,” he said.
To a query, the official said that a person having permit can purchase up to 100 litres liquor per month.
According to the excise department there are 89 wine shops in the city. Due to riders laid to curb spread of Covid-19, only 33 wine shops in the city and five beer shops are open.
“The rules for home delivery of liquor are difficult to follow. Under the present norms, violations are bound to happen. So I decided not to open our shop till the lockdown is lifted,” said the owner of a chain of wine shops, who didn’t wish to be named.
Almost every wine shop is breaking rules set for home delivery. Another owner who kept his shop shut despite the permission said, “I have been paying my staff but I am short on workers who can go out and deliver liquor, so I decided to keep my store closed. I will lose customers but with normalcy they will be back. I am suffering losses but the threat of breaking rules and penalty that could be imposed by excise department will be bigger.”
The excise department has already booked 11 shop owners, including nine wine retailers and one country liquor outlet, on May 17 for violating the order allowing home delivery.
The state excise department on Wednesday generated Rs30.26 lakh from the production of liquor. The department has also registered three cases of illegal transportation of liquor and illicit liquor worth Rs46,114. On May 19, the city registered sale of 56,955 litre of country liquor, 34,464 litre of foreign made liquor and 3,28,336 litres of beer.