Liquor shops in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah district are flashing a new notice saying no liquor will be sold without a vaccine certificate. The poster was reportedly put up on the orders of Etawah SDM Hem Kumar Singh.
“The SDM told us to get more and more people vaccinated,” said the employees of liquor shops confirming the same.
“We’re selling liquor only after checking the vaccination certificate of the customer,” said another shopkeeper in an interview to ANI.
Etawah: Liquor sellers in Saifai say the sub-divisional magistrate have instructed them not to sell liquor to those who are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 31, 2021
“We’re selling liquor only after checking the vaccination certificate of the customer,” a shopkeeper says. (30.05) pic.twitter.com/BCqXttPkmv
However, the District Excise Officer of Etawah Kamal Kumar Shukla informed, “No such order has been issued. The SDM might have asked the liquor sellers to motivate people to get vaccinated.”
No such order has been issued. The SDM might have asked the liquor sellers to motivate people to get vaccinated: Etawah District Excise Officer Kamal Kumar Shukla (30.05) pic.twitter.com/kNLNYi3sY3
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 31, 2021
This order comes after the DM of Firozabad announced that the salaries of government employees will be withheld unless they receive the jab, as per a report in India Today.
The state of Uttar Pradesh has been aggressive with door-to-door testing and the inoculation drive. The Yogi Adityanath government has set a target of administering one crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccines in the month of June.
The district administrators are trying various initiatives like the ones implemented in Saifai and Firozabad to achieve this target.
Covid-19 situation in Uttar Pradesh
With the recovery rate surpassing 95% in the most populous states of the country, the UP government has announced some relaxation in curbs from June 1 in 55 districts.
An order by the state government said that the economic activities will be allowed to resume in zones/ districts which have less than 600 active cases from Tuesday onwards.
The markets too can remain open for longer hours from 7 am to 7 pm from Monday to Friday, however, no relaxation will be given in the weekend curfew.
The state recorded 1,908 cases new coronavirus cases in a span of 24 hours between 29 May and 30 May with the positivity rate at 0.5 per cent.