Bhubaneswar, March 19: The next time you are caught on camera drinking in public you will be fined Rs 1,000 or jailed for six months.

In a bid to curb drinking outside liquor shops, the police today issued an order asking the store owners in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar to install closed circuit television cameras, which will cover at least 30 metre area around their establishments.

In the capital city, there are 42 liquor shops in the municipal area.

The cops have also asked the owners to preserve the CCTV footages for at least 15 days or hand over the recordings, if required.

The police have also decreed that if anyone drinks in the open outside a liquor shop, the owner or employee of the outlet should immediately inform the police control room or the nearest police station.

The order would come in to effect from March 25.

The police have also asked the liquor shop owners to put up signboards in Odia and English mentioning that consumption of liquor in public places is an offence and sale of liquor by unauthorised vendors outside liquor shops are strictly prohibited.

The signboards would carry the telephone numbers of the area police stations.

The cops took the decision after residents of both the cities raised concern over drinking in public places, particularly outside the liquor shops, during public-police interfaces.

"We have received several complaints of people consuming alcohol in front of liquor shops. Besides, we have also come to know that owners are deputing their employees outside the shops to sell alcohol after stipulated time," said a senior police official.

The order stated that the violators would be booked under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of Indian Penal Code under which he or she shall get imprisonment up to six months, or will be fined Rs 1,000 or with both.

Liquor shop owners welcomed the move and said they would extend support to the initiative.

"During the last general elections, the excise department had asked us to install CCTVs inside the shop and we complied with the order. However, according to the recent order of the police, we need to install more cameras to cover 30-metre radius. It would be better if the cops give us more time," said Bibhudatta Biswal, a liquor shop manager.