Odisha government allows home delivery of liquor

Sambad English Bureau Published On : May 23, 2020 at 4:09 PM Updated On : May 23, 2020 at 4:10 PM

Bhubaneswar: Good news for booze lovers! The Odisha government has allowed home delivery of liquor from tomorrow. However, it would cost a bit higher than the maximum retail price.

A decision in this regard has been taken by the Excise Department.

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“State Government has allowed home delivery of liquor by the existing ON & OFF shop licensees of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) & Beer situated in areas other than containment zones & shopping malls w.e.f. 24th May, 2020 by amending the relevant provisions under Odisha Excise Rules, 2017. However, no excise licensees of any type have been allowed to sell liquor across the counter or in their premises,” Excise Commissioner Anjan Kumar Manik said.

The liquor products and alcoholic beverages would, however, be sold at a higher price than it was being available prior to Covid19 pandemic.

The state government has introduced a special Covid fee in which the MRPs of all types of foreign liquor and beer have been hiked by 50 %.

The additional revenue generated from liquor sales would go towards treatment of Covid19 patients and other related activities, Manik added.

Worth mentioning, the home delivery will be done through retailers and food aggregators, standard technology platforms, delivery service providers, who are acting as retail aggregators.

As per the guidelines of the Excise department, the shops will have to display their phone/mobile/WhatsApp number/email id/UPI details for receiving the orders and facilitating digital payments outside their shop. Odisha State Beverages Corporation website (www.osbc.co.in) will also display the district wise list of ON/OFF shops licensees along with their details. The product wise latest MRP will also be displayed on the website. The orders for home delivery of liquor can be received by the retailers over phone or through SMS, whatsapp, email etc.

Delivery charges as follows:

Rs 100 for orders up to Rs 1000 and thereafter Rs 25 for every additional Rs 500 order value. In no case the delivery charge will exceed Rs 300.

The aggregators can fix their own rates subject to above ceiling.

Timing:

Home delivery would be between 7 AM and 6 PM. Orders are expected to be delivered within 6 hours.

During these Covid19 times, the government has made it mandatory for the delivery boys to follow all the social distancing norms like wearing masks, maintaining 6 feet distance and using sanitiser frequently.