Visakhapatnam district witnessed a huge sale of liquor during the Sankranti festival period. Liquor outlets in most of the parts of the city were flocked by tipsy customers since the morning.
Even though most of the outlets were closed with ‘No Stock’ board on January 15, a day before ‘Kanuma’, the sale has touched over ₹30 crore since the last four days.
According to statistics reported at CM Dashboard, from January 14 to January 16, there was a sale of 34,191 IML cases and 13,411 beer cases, all worth ₹30.67 crore.
“Depots in Vizag have witnessed a huge sale. Not to be shocked, depot at Narsipatnam saw sale of over ₹1 crore worth liquor on a day during Sankranti,” said an official from the Excise and prohibition Department.
There was a huge sale of chicken, mutton on the occasion of ‘Mukkanugu’. Many restaurants announced offers on biryanis and non-vegetarian dishes, since most of the public opted for having meat dishes.
“Since ‘Kanuma’ was observed on Thursday, the sale was not good. But we have started to receive orders for Friday from Wednesday itself. There was a brisk business on Friday,” said K Narayana, a meat shop owner from Madhavadhara.
Many commercial establishments, small scale hotels, restaurants were closed even on Friday. Online food delivery companies, cab services charged extra prices due to lack of full-fledged staff. Cinemas, malls and multiplexes have been continuing with full houses. Tourist places were seen thronged by public and visitors from other areas.
Meanwhile, buses and trains are jam-packed from Thursday evening, as citizens who left for home towns for Sankranti holidays, started to return.
