To drink or not to drink? Alcoholic debate lifts spirits in locked down Meghalaya

Wine dealers in the State want the government to allow opening of the outlets on alternate days as the lockdown has increased the demand for liquor, and many needed it to deal with the stress

File photo used for representational purpose.

To drink or not to drink.

This is the subject of a lively debate in Meghalaya’s capital Shillong amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic .

A dentist in the city on Friday prescribed two bottles of whiskey for a 65-year-old male patient, advising him not to drink more than two pegs a day.

The doctor cited the case of Kerala in justifying the prescription. He said his patient was suffering from withdrawal symptoms and was unable to eat or sleep.

“I have advised him to consume alcohol in limited quantity,” he told mediapersons in Shillong.

The dentist’s prescription coincided with an appeal by the Wine Dealers and Welfare Association in Shillong to Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma seeking permission to open their outlets across the State with immediate effect.

The association said that the lockdown had increased the demand for liquor, and many needed it to deal with the stress caused by the abnormal situation. It also assured adherence to social distancing norms besides advising that the government allow opening of the outlets on alternate days.

Their appeal followed the withdrawal of an order by the State government asking bonded warehouses to sell liquor. The notification advising tempered sale of alcohol was issued on March 30.

The order was withdrawn after the Indian Medical Association objected to it.

The rescinded order had read: “The Meghalaya government has approved home delivery of liquor on health grounds strictly against medical prescriptions issued by the registered medical practitioner.”

Bonded warehouses may be allowed to sell and provide home delivery of liquor as a special case with immediate effect up to the midnight of April 14, 2020, until further orders to customers who are 21 years old and above, the government had said in its March 30 order.

Wine shops in Meghalaya have been offering alcoholic beverages at one of the cheapest rates in the northeast. Liquor is prohibited in two of the region’s States — Mizoram and Nagaland — while extremists have banned drinking in Manipur.