Former Mayor and a doctor of medicine Jandhyala Shankar in a letter to the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy requested that liquor be made available during the lockdown period.
Dr. Shankar wrote that it would add to the revenue of the State government which was already facing a financial crisis.
Starting his letter with writer-philosopher Aldous Huxley’s quote, “Make a rich man spend his money in some form or other. It eventually goes to the poor or distributed among the deserving people,” Dr. Shankar said the government was not in a position to forego a substantial revenue on liquor sales even for a short period, when it was being forced to incur huge expenditure in controlling the spread of COVID-19.
He recalled that even in the days of prohibition, liquor was available to some on medical prescription. Some heart patients were prescribed some wine to keep them healthy.
For the purpose of maintaining social distancing “door delivery” of liquor be allowed, he suggested. “The government may consider door delivery through some recognised NGO. The NGO may be permitted to charge ₹25 or a little more over the regular price. The NGO should contribute ₹20 to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and keep the rest to meet the expenditure of delivering the liquor,” he suggested.
Dr. Shankar said, “I am 85 years, former Mayor and a medical doctor. As desired by some responsible and senior citizens and (also) on my own behalf, I am writing to you. When everyone is remaining home and some affluent citizens wish to have a drink in their residence there is nothing wrong in their desire.”
