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At some places, they flocked liquor shops even before day-break and performed “special prayers” with flowers, coconuts,incense sticks, camphor and crackers in front of the stores.
Liquor outlets had been shut in the State from March 25following the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Excise revenue loss during the period was about Rs 2,500crore, according to government sources.
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These include customers compulsorily wearing of facemasks andmaintaining social distancing with not more than five people inside liquor shops.
Many customers were indeed well-prepared.
At many places, they came with umbrella, raincoat, newspapersand books and queued up as early as 3 am.
At a liquor shop in Salegame Road in Hassan, the tipplerslit the traditional lamp and incense sticks, performed ‘aarati’with camphor and decorated the store with the garland of flowers.
With folded hands, they all performed ‘special prayers’.
In Mandya, the tipplers queued up before Martaanda liquorshop before dawn.
An hour before the sales were to resume, a few people burst crackers in celebration.
Some tipplers in Belagavi were more “enterprising.”
They went to a liquor store on Sunday night itself, performed special prayersand placed their “representatives” in the form of slippers, bags and stones in the “social distancing boxes” they themselves had drawn sothat they don’t have to stand in queue in the morning.