With an eye on better sales owing to high footfall, the Delhi excise department has started opening liquor shops at metro station premises, said officials as quoted by news agency PTI. More than six liquor vends have been opened in Badarpur, Dwarka, Karol Bagh, Rajouri Garden, and Mundka metro station premises.
A senior Excise department official said that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is being approached by the government undertakings to get permission for opening liquor shops at other stations, according to news agency PTI.
The official said that metro stations have a high footfall which is a big factor to ensure more access to liquor products, and thereby more revenue. The DMRC has also issued licenses to the Delhi Consumers' Cooperative Wholesale Store Ltd (DCCWS) to open liquor stores at over half a dozen of metro stations.
Four Delhi government undertakings – Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC), Delhi State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Delhi Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation (DSCSC), and DCCWS – have to open 500 liquor vends across the city by September. And by the year-end, they will together open 200 more stores in the national capital.
According to the Excise department officials, metro stations provide a good opportunity for better sales due to space availability and high footfall, hence, the DMRC will soon grant permission to other corporations as well for opening liquor stores at metro premises.
The department has already issued around 450 licenses to the four corporations and over 350 liquor stores operated by these four agencies are currently running in the city, as per PTI reports.
Delhi government withdrew its Excise Policy 2021-22 in July this year after LG VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into its alleged irregularities and reverted to the old excise regime that was operational before November 17, 2021.
Meanwhile, officials said that liquor will not be available at IGI's domestic terminals here anytime soon as the Delhi government agency assigned to run the vends there is yet to find space for those.
The Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) that has been assigned the job is still looking for space to open six vends, they said.
The duty-free liquor stores at the airport's international terminal are running normally as they are out of excise ambit, officials said.
The airport zone faced issues even when the excise policy 2021-22 was implemented in November last year, after the licensee was able to open only six of the 10 shops there by February 2012-22.
(With PTI inputs)
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