Soon after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a 6-day lockdown in Delhi amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, hundreds of people queued up outside liquor shops at various places in Delhi to stock up on alcohol supplies. The lockdown that comes into effect from 10 pm tonight will be in place till 6 am on Monday (April 26).

Also Read: Delhi lockdown timing: From 10 pm April 19 to 5 am April 26

Waiting for his turn in one such queue in south Delhi, Ravinder Saxena said he wanted to stock up as he believed there are chances that the lockdown will be extended further.

“Liquor helps keep negative thinking out of your mind,” he told PTI while waiting for his turn.

“There are many people at the shop, and I will try to buy at least six to eight bottles for myself,” Saxena added.

Serpentine queues built up outside liquor shops at several places in Delhi within minutes of the announcement and many people were seen walking away with sufficient supplies to see them through the lockdown period. Photos shared by ANI showed long queues outside shops in central Delhi’s Khan Market and Gole Market.

A woman, standing in a queue at east Delhi’s Geeta Colony told ANI, “…Injection fayda nahi karega, ye alcohol fayda karegi…Mujhe dawaion se asar nahi hoga, peg se asar hoga…”  (Injections will not help, alcohol will. Medicines will not work on me, a peg will) 

The scenes outside liquor shops brought back memories of 2020, the first time COVID lockdown was imposed in the country, when massive queues built up outside liquor shops after the first relaxation in the lockdown. Police had to be called in then to manage the huge crowd.

“During the last lockdown, we bought liquor bottles at doubled rates from the black market. Now, there is another lockdown, and seeing the current situation, one cannot say for how many days it will last,”  Jagdish Samora of Malviya Nagar told PTI while standing in a queue at a liquor shop.

“I will buy six whiskey bottles,” he added.

Bharat Sharma, a resident of Dilshad Garden told PTI that the moment he came to know about the lockdown, he reached the local liquor shop along with a friend.

“We waited for more than one hour and somehow managed to get three bottles,” he added.

With similar reports from across the city, the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC) issued a statement saying, “What we saw today was panic reaction from the public, driven by their memory of lockdown extensions last year. For lakhs of people all over India, alcohol is part of regular consumption basket that they do not wish to be deprived of.” “While we hope that the public and shopkeepers in Delhi adhere to COVID-appropriate behaviour, steps to reassure public would help. Decision of Maharashtra to allow home delivery of liquor, for example, has helped contained panic reaction to lockdown there. We urge the Delhi government to think of such steps,” Vinod Giri, CIABC director general, said in the statement.

Arvind Kejriwal announced the six-day lockdown, which will come in effect from 10 pm April 19 and will continue till 5 am April 26. The lockdown announcement came as the Delhi CM said that health system in the national capital has been “stretched to its limit.” 

Delhi on Sunday recorded over 25,000 COVID-19 cases, which is the biggest single-day spike ever.