The excise staff on Tuesday carried out stock verification at all liquor shops in the State to establish the quantity of liquor available at the outlets as a measure of preparedness whenever the government decided to allow resumption of trade.
Sources said the Excise Department had estimated the availability of stock at distilleries and breweries as also depots of Beverages Corporation Limited which is the nodal agency for distribution of stock. However, the stock available at shops was not assessed as they were shut down all of a sudden with Janata Curfew on March 22 followed by an unforeseen lockdown from the next day.
They added that the officers were asked to submit reports of stocks to higher authorities after verification by the evening.
Speculations about re-opening of liquor shops in Telangana became rife as Telangana Prohibition and Excise officials made the store owners to pull up their shop shutters across the State on Tuesday to check availability of stock.
However, sources in the department who received the instruction from their higher ups, said that they were not informed of the reason for collecting the data.
“We were asked to check stock of around 15 brands of Indian Made Liquor (IML) that includes whisky, vodka, and all brands of beer. But we don’t know whether it will be used to decide prices or for any other purpose,” sources said.
They added that it can also be used to compare the stock on the last day before the lockdown and when they opened the stores on Tuesday. If the numbers don’t tally, the licensee would be asked reason for it.
Senior officials from the department said that they haven’t yet received directions on the measures wine shop owners have to take after re-opening the wine shops. It was learnt that distilleries were unofficially informed to be ready to manufacture alcohol.
