“Please finish the drinks. You can sit for as long as you want. But we have to take the drinks away in 15 minutes,” a waiter at a Park Street restaurant told a group of diners around 5.20pm.
Two in the group of four had ordered beers. They quickly downed what was left.
The ban on the sale and service of liquor resumed at 6pm on Saturday. More than one restaurateur said they took no chances and stopped taking liquor orders at 5.30pm.
The ban will be in place until polling ends on April 29 and again for the entire day on May 4, counting day.
The extended prohibition, effective from Monday, April 20, drew widespread criticism. The usual norm is a 48-hour shutdown before the end of polling and again on counting day.
A queue at a liquor store on NSC Bose Road on Saturday afternoon. (Bishwarup Dutta)
Many off-shops remained open on Saturday, though some stayed shut. Those that opened did not stock fully, as operators avoided reloading from Bevco godowns a day earlier, fearing law-and-order problems.
Most outlets that operated for the day closed well before 6pm.
Saturday afternoon saw a surge in footfall across restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs. “We had planned to go out for dinner. But because of the impending ban, we went out for lunch,” said Sameek Bhattacharya, a New Alipore resident who visited a bar at Forum Mall on Elgin Road with his family.
While the ban was lifted on Friday, the lunch crowd was muted in many places because it was a working day, the weather was sweltering and transport options were limited.
Footfall began rising from late Friday evening and continued on Saturday afternoon.
Online sales were inconsistent throughout Saturday. A retailer said many delivery executives had gone home to vote in the first phase and had not yet returned.
Two days into the liquor sale and service prohibition across Calcutta and neighbouring districts for “free and fair elections”, the Election Commission said it had not ordered the blanket ban.
On Tuesday evening, Bengal’s chief electoral officer Manoj Agarwal told reporters he was not even aware of the shutdown that began on Monday. The poll panel did not order the ban, and he would seek an explanation from the excise commissioner.
On Wednesday, the CEO sought clarification from the finance secretary regarding the notice issued by the excise commissioner enforcing the state-wide shutdown. The excise department functions under the state finance ministry, but all departments are currently reporting to the Election Commission since the polls were announced on March 15.
The state is likely to lose over ₹60 crore per day in excise revenue because of the ban, according to conservative government estimates.
