Social distancing goes for a toss as boozers throng wine shops

Mahbubnagar: Social distancing has gone for a toss at almost all wine shops across erstwhile Mahbubnagar on Wednesday as boozers thronged in large numbers standing in long queues pushing each other leading to possible risk of spreading coronavirus unmindfully.

With the state government of Telangana allowing all the wine shops to open, eagerly waiting for boozers thronged at all the 240 wine shops across 5 districts of erstwhile Mahbubnagar as early as 8 'o'clock in the morning and waited patiently at the gates of the shops until the shop owners opened their shutters at 10 am.

For instance in Jadcherla mandal of Mahbubnagar, more than 150 people had already gathered and seen standing in long queues as early as 8.30 am onwards. Until the police reached the Durga wine shop, the boozers were seen chatting and pushing each other in the lines and not at all heeding the government's advice to maintain social distancing. When the police reached the spot, except for a few persons standing near the wine shop, others in long queues were least bothered to adhere to social distancing.

However, the boozers expressed their happiness and thanked the government for opening up of wine shops. "We thank KCR for taking a good decision, because after hard labour all the day, without wine in the evening we spent sleepless nights during past one month," said Shankar, a hamali worker at a rice mill in Jadcherla.

In Gadwal district, boozers were seen following strictly social distancing as the police personals had already drawn the social distance circles as long as 200 meters from the wine shops. While many adhered to the social distancing initially, as the summer heat turned up, the boozers kept their belongings in their respective circles and stood under the shade of a tree, again violating the social distancing and risking their lives with coronavirus.

Similar scenes of boozers standing in long queues and least bothering of social distancing were also observed at various wine shops in Kodangal, Achampet, and Nagarkurnool, Pebbair, Wanaparthy, Mahbubnagar and Narayanpet districts. At many places, the police struggled hard to control the boozers and at some places, they also resorted to lathi-charge to control the unrelenting crowds at the wine shops.