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मन की बात / Mind Matter

Opening of Liquor Shops: A Himalayan Blunder?

Prof.Dr.A.K.Gupta, MD, Sr. Homoeopathic Consultant
Founder Director-  AKGsOVIHAMS Medical Center
President – Homeopathic Medical Association of India, Delhi

In the coming 10 to 15 days we might see an unthinkable rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and the reason being the foolishness of the masses and even more unplanned and ill-prepared decision making on the part of the policy makers

By Prof.Dr.A.K.Gupta

 
 
New Delhi/SBM Special
4th May 2020 may go down as the biggest day of collective blunder on the part of the Government and the people of India. Opening of the liquor shops in the times of misery of COVID-19 may just be the trigger that India had been avoiding till now. In the coming 10 to 15 days we might see an unthinkable rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and the reason being the foolishness of the masses and even more unplanned and ill-prepared decision making on the part of the policy makers.
First of all, is the Govt. so dependent on the revenue generation from the Liquor and Paan/ Gutka shops? If yes, then is it worth the cost of the health and well being of the citizens of the country? In both the scenarios the situation is extremely unfortunate.
I believe if revenue generation was actually so important, then the whole process could have been done in a much more methodical manner. I have a few suggestions which could have been adopted by the Government and even now can be done to save the further damage

  • There could have been creation of a Mobile App (Min. Charges for download) to generate extra revenue without any recurrent burden or through a website.
  • It would have made it feasible and easier by simply putting up the guidelines as to where the Liquor / Paan/ Gutkawould be available?
  • How much can a person procure? For how long the outlets would be open?
  • Creation of virtual ticket / pass could be done on that app with an assigned date and time for that person to collect the liquor from that specific shop and link the whole thig with the Aadhar card of that particular consumer.
  • Even a time of delivery could be assigned through such an app which would have prevented the gathering of such large crowds at a given time unnecessarily and would have made the whole process seamlessly as a particular person would have to spend a bare minimum amount of time at the shop.
  • Limited amount could have been rationes so as to avoid the hoarding and black marketing later on.
  • The revenue could have been generated through the downloading of this app as well by putting a 1-time registration fee.
  • In the end all the data would be with the government which can be of used forever and in various spheres like those requiring free food and ration etc. shall not be in this category.
  • Not just few outlets allowed, in fact all the liquor shops could have been opened and people would have gone to their area only restricting unnecessary travel and roaming. Each shop would have limited customers and avoided gathering and maintaining Social distance would be easier.
  • The stock of all shops would have been utilized and not gone waste as it may happen now.

Most important all the efforts of the COVID warriors have gone to doldrums and it is extremely demoralizing to say the least the way the Govt. has handled the whole situation. How do you expect the people to fight on with the same spirit!

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