The first day of the government-run liquor sale in Patna and most urban areas in the state was marked as 'dry day' on Friday.

No, alcohol sellers were in no mood to play an April Fools' joke on tipplers.

Following the closure of all private liquor shops on Thursday, the sale of liquor in all urban areas in the state was proposed to be done through 656 shops to be run by Bihar State Beverages Corporation Limited (BSBCL) from Friday.

However, no BSBCL-run shops could sell liquor on the very first day owing to slow pace in finalisation of paperwork. The excise department issued liquor licence for around 150 shops opened by BSBCL across the state on Friday, including 50 in the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) area. A total of 90 liquor shops are proposed to be opened in the PMC area by BSBCL.

However, permits for procuring consignment of liquor was not issued till 6pm for even a single BSBCL-run shop in Patna. "We issued licences for 50 shops in the PMC area, so that the shops could run for at least a month. We are also waiting for the BSBCL to apply for the permits and it would be issued at the same very moment," said Krishna Kumar, assistant excise commissioner, Patna.

Officials in BSBCL were hopeful of getting the permits issued for a few shops later in the evening, which would pave way for selling liquor from the counter. BSBCL managing director Mithilesh Mishra told The Telegraph: "It is for the first time that the government agency is running liquor shops in Bihar. Hence, there are some initial technical hiccups. We were prepared at our end for selling liquor from today (Friday) but the slight delay was owing to legal formalities. We are hopeful that the majority of the shops, which have been issued licence today, would start selling liquor from Saturday."

Employee problem

BSBCL is faced with problems in opening liquor shops. Apart from delay in issuance of liquor licence and permits, a large section of government employees, who initially voluntarily applied to work at BSBCL-run liquor shops, did not report for duty on Friday. According to sources, the requirement of being on duty for 12 hours (10am-10pm) acted as a stumbling block for many.

A total of 490 government employees, including working and retired people, were hired by BSBCL as store managers in its shops. Retired as well as serving employees of the state government entitled to a grade pay between Rs 5,500 and Rs 9,000 had applied for the respective post. The BSBCL issued the joining letter for all 490 store managers on Tuesday and they were required to report at the respective shops the next day. However, sources claimed that not more than 300 store managers reported for duty on Friday.

Mishra said around 10 people sent their resignation letters. "While the retired persons are not willing to sell liquor in their old age, many serving employees are finding it too tiring to work for 12 hours as they are used to work for around eight hours in government offices," said Mishra.

According to sources, each BSBCL shop is required to have a store manager, two computer operators, three delivery boys and four homeguard jawans. Apart from BSBCL, the Bihar State Electronic Development Corporation Limited (Beltron) was also asked to provide around 700 persons but around 400 had joined till Friday.

Shops not ready

A large number of BSBCL shops were not ready even on Friday as they lacked furniture, front grilles and stationery items among others. Most shops did not have refrigerators for cooling beer, while construction and furniture works were under way at several others. CCTV cameras and note-sorting machines (to detect fake currency) were not installed in any of the shops.

"The shops would start selling liquor as soon as they are granted licence and permits even if the required furniture and stationery items are not there. However, most shops were provided receipt books for selling liquor on Friday itself as sale of liquor is not allowed without receipt at our shops," said Mishra.