Odisha government on Saturday allowed home delivery of liquor by the existing "ON and OFF shop licensees" of IMFL and beer from May 24 outside COVID-19 containment zones and shopping malls.
"Odisha Government has allowed home delivery of liquor by the existing ON and OFF shop licensees of IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) and beer situated in areas other than containment zones and shopping malls from May 24 by amending the relevant provisions under Odisha Excise Rules, 2017," State Excise Department said in an order.
It said no excise licensees of any type have been allowed to sell liquor across the counter or in their premises.
"State Government has further introduced a "Special COVID Fee" by amending the relevant rules and increased the MRPs of all types of foreign liquor and beer by 50 per cent of the MRPs prevailing last year (2019-20). The additional revenue so generated will go towards meeting the expenses being incurred by the state government in the treatment of Covid-19 patients and other related activities," the department said.
It further said that the home delivery of liquor can be taken up by retailers directly and also through reputed food aggregators, standard technology platforms, delivery service providers etc. acting as retail aggregators.
( With inputs from ANI )