(This story originally appeared in on Apr 06, 2018)

GHAZIABAD: The Uttar Pradesh government has uncorked a series of changes on sale of liquor in the state, the latest on Thursday bringing down business time for booze shops by four hours.But a tweak that will concern people in NCR the most is an amendment the government made to the liquor law late last year to stop out the practice of buying alcohol at cheaper rates from neighbouring Delhi.The state government had in September last year made an amendment to the UP Excise Act , 1910, to bring down the import of liquor from other states. The new law makes it a non-bailable offence to carry along more than one sealed bottle of liquor from other neighbouring states and carries a maximum punishment of five years in jail along with a fine of Rs 5,000 or ten times the revenue the state would have earned from the bottles, whichever is higher.The rules, however, do not apply if the bottles are open.“A person is permitted to bring only a single unit of alcohol at a time into UP from other states and that too only for consumption and not sale. If more than one bottle being imported is found with the seal intact, it will be presumed it is for sale and the charges of liquor smuggling can be invoked,” Ghaziabad district excise officer Gyanendra Tripathy said.It is common practice for people in Noida and Ghaziabad to bring along liquor from neighbouring Delhi as alcohol is cheaper in the capital. Many fliers returning from the IGI airport also buy their liquor there.On Thursday, the UP government announced that liquor shops in the state would now open only at noon and close at 10pm. The earlier business hours for liquor outlets were from 9am to 11pm. The slashing of the business hours got the thumbs up from various residents’associations.“The intention behind reducing the hours for retail sale of liquor is noble. Residents will now be spared the hooliganism created by drunkards in the morning. In any case, liquor sales usually pick up in the evening. However, strict vigilance is required to prohibit purchase of liquor from Delhi, particularly from vends in the border areas that open before noon,” said Vinay Mittal, president of the Kaushambi Apartment RWAs.Another section of residents had a different version. They said the reduced hours could lead to law and order problems and brawls oitside liquor outlets.“The move is welcome. Some people line up at liquor vends early in the morning and squander their earnings on alcohol. But customers are likely to purchase alcohol from the several outlets on the Delhi border and bring it to Ghaziabad for consumption,” said KK Sehgal, a resident of Kaushambi.