Counter sale of liquor to resume in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Sale of liquor at shop counters, which was suspended in Odisha due to the COVID-19 situation, will resume across the state from July 1, an official order of the state government’s Excise Department said.

Counter sale of FMFL/IMFL/wine/beer/RTD at licensed IMFL ‘OFF’ and ‘ON’ shops will start from July 1. The existing home delivery service will also continue, the order said.

The shops will remain open for the counter sale of liquor from 7:00 AM to 6:00 P.M.

In order to regulate crowd at the shops, an online system for generation of e-token for slot booking has been developed by OSBC with NIC for taking a prior appointment to visit the shops.

The feature is available on OSBC portal (http://osbc.co.in) under the link “e-token for slot booking”. The e-token so generated can be downloaded from the link received through SMS on the mobile phone.

In order to regulate the crowd, the retailers have been asked to erect barricades wherever required, and also employ additional manpower with specific responsibility to ensure regulation of queue, social distancing norm etc. by the customers.