People rush to liquor stores to stock up just before deadline

Mysore/Mysuru: Fully prepared to enforce the night curfew decision of the State Government, the City Police administration was literally on its toes last evening and as the clock struck 10 pm, activity came to a complete standstill on the otherwise busy roads.

The Police started doing rounds announcing the 10 pm deadline on public address systems on PCR and Garuda vehicles at 9.30 pm and asked establishments to close down as the night curfew kicked in from last night till 5 am on Jan. 7, 2022. As it was the first day, the Police did not book violators and convinced them to close down.

All malls, commercial establishments, markets, hotels and restaurants, pubs and clubs were asked to down shutters. Barricades were laid on the road to restrict movements and check-posts were set up both by the City Police and their district counterparts.

Barring emergency services and medical services, all movements were halted as outlined in the Government guidelines. All the top-ranking officers of the city including City Police Commissioner Dr. Chandragupta, DCPs Pradeep Gunti (Law and Order) and Geetha Prasanna (Crime and Traffic) were on rounds with ACPs and Inspectors, boosting the confidence of the lower-rung staff.

Entry and exit points were secured like the Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway junction near Columbia Asia Hospital, Bannur Road, Mahadevapura Road, Nanjangud Road, H.D. Kote Road, Hunsur Road and KRS Road. Within the city limits, check-points were set up at Sub-Urban Bus Stand prepaid auto point, Basaveshwara Circle, Dr. Rajkumar Circle, Lalitha Mahal Arch, Srinivas Circle and Mathrumandali Circle. “We only created awareness today. We will enforce the night curfew strictly from Wednesday and book violators. We will also barricade all roads and major junctions from Wednesday night to prevent any traffic movement,” Police said.

Anybody travelling on the road beyond the deadline had to furnish suitable documents to justify their presence on the road. Surveillance was stepped at the Karnataka-Kerala border check-post at Bavali in H.D. Kote taluk to prevent the entry of vehicles to Karnataka.

Historically, December is the month that reports high sales at liquor vending outlets and true to this, many people rushed to buy stocks hours before the night curfew kicked in. Scores of people were seen rushing to their nearest liquor stores, anxious to stock up. Shops reported increased footfall from 7 pm and they were forced by the Police to down shutters at 10 pm.

Unable to handle the crowd, many popular liquor vends introduced a token system for customers to fall in line to buy beer and Indian-made foreign liquor.

Police vehicles making announcements were seen stopping in front of liquor stores, asking them to close before 10 pm.

Though theatres had adjusted their shows to wind up by 9.30 pm to allow people to reach homes by 10 pm, there were not many takers for the last show.