Sixteen of the 32 authorised retail liquor outlets in the district have been remaining closed since Sunday following opposition from residents of the areas to which they have been relocated in the wake of the Supreme Court order on liquor shops along highways.
Apart from that, 55 of the 68 beer-and-wine parlours, two of the three liquor sales counters of the defence canteen services, liquor bar of one of the two five star hotels, the liquor bar of a popular club, and 21 toddy shops along highways have also been closed.
Defence canteens
The liquor outlets of the defence canteen located at Thevally and at Mamood remain closed.
The one at Eravipuram is functional.
Canteen card-holders said that they were taken aback by the closure.
Those attached to one counter were not entitled to purchase liquor from another counter.
The managers of the canteen counter have informed the office of the Deputy Excise Commissioner here that they have identified an alternative location that complies with the Supreme Court directive. Permit from Excise is required for that. They also feel that there would not be local resistance against the counter.
No decision has been taken on relocating the Thevally counter.
Excise officers said that the retail liquor outlet of the Consumerfed located at Chinnakada that was shifted to Pullikada could not be operated on Monday too because of resistance from local residents.
But the outlet of the Bevco shifted from Chinnakada to the 2nd Milestone area has operated since Sunday though there was initial resistance from local residents.
Law-and-order issues
Meanwhile, policing the retail liquor outlets has become a major problem in the district for the past two days and is only expected to worsen in the coming days. The police said the problem was basically three-pronged.
One is maintenance of law and order in the vicinity of the outlets because of the heavy rush, then traffic control, and the most important one is dealing with groups comprising a good number of women and children that oppose the relocated outlets. Most of the outlets relocated have no vehicle parking space or even arrangements for queue.
