Delhi left with 240 liquor shops; none in some prime South Delhi areas

It appears that Delhi’s liquor woes will take a while to end. While last month there were talks about opening 800 liquor shops, Delhi is currently left with nearly 240 liquor shops. In fact, there are no liquor shops in many areas of the capital city, including many areas in South Delhi. 

Safdarjung Enclave, Punjabi Bagh, Greater Kailash, Andrews Ganj, Chittaranjan Park, Kamla Nagar, Model Town, Rajendra Nagar, Sarita Vihar, Preet Vihar, and Chandni Chowk are some of the areas that do not have any liquor shops.

From next month, all liquor shops will be run by Delhi government agencies. The government plans to open 500 liquor shops, which will be eventually increased to 700 liquor shops in December. 

However, this plan is not without its own challenges. 

So far, out of the 500 liquor shops planned, the government has not been able to sign off on even 300 liquor shops. The main reason behind this is that the previous policy saw the government lease 476 liquor shops, but when the policy was altered, the government had to let go of these shops. Now, when the government wants it back, they are unable to do the procurement.

The government is aiming to open liquor shops in place of the private liquor shops that will be pulling the shutters soon.  

Nevertheless, there still is confusion around the Delhi government’s liquor policy. The new policy aims to divide the city into 32 zones but so far only 17 zones have been made operational. Out of those 17 zones, 10 were already in place before the rollback of the excise policy.

Under the excise policy 2021-22, the Delhi government had issued 849 retail licenses across the city divided into 32 zones. The policy was implemented from November 17, 2021. The Delhi government has extended licenses of country liquor vends by two months till September 30 as fresh tenders are yet to be finalised. Meanwhile, vends selling Indian and foreign liquor brands will remain shut despite the one-month extension granted by Delhi government on Sunday as a nod from Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena is awaited.

Also read: Delhi govt gives 2-month extension to vends selling country liquor

Also read: Delhi's liquor policy: Why there is a shortage of booze in the national capital