After Monday’s kill, the liquor outlets remained closed for the first half of Tuesday, making the waiting ‘consumers’ turn impatient. By noon, they became restive and started staging protest in front of a state-run liquor outlet on Tilak Road.
Confusion prevailed for long hours with the State deciding to hike the liquor prices by 50%, over and above the 25% hike effected on Monday. As the new tariff was not clear and the government blaming the law enforcing authorities for not maintaining order and social distancing at the outlets, the shops remained closed beyond noon. Many eagerly came forward to give ‘interview’ to waiting media personnel and flayed the government for its arbitrary decision. “We did not expect the outlets to open, but when they did, they disappointed us by charging liquor at such a huge cost,” a masked ‘consumer’ gave vent to his grievance.
Though the shops were opened after 3 p.m., there were not many takers in view of the steep hike in prices.
The turnout was almost feeble when compared to Monday’s crowd, as most of them were from lower income groups. Buyers were in shock to find their regular brands sold at almost double the actual amount it had cost them before the lockdown.
