Anxious over crowds at liquor stores, workers seek insurance

VIJAYAWADA: A telephonic conversation between a liquor store staffer and an excise official recently went viral on social media in which the salesperson was expressing his agony at having to work a day after a co-worker died of Covid-19. With the second wave of Covid-19 continuing to wreak havoc, salespersons at government-run wine shops are a worried lot. These workers, facing customers every single day, are feeling vulnerable. Several wine shop workers have already fallen sick with Covid-19.

The Andhra Pradesh government has imposed an 18-hour curfew in the state. Wine shops are open between 6am and noon. With liquor available only for a limited period of time, liquor stores across the state are seeing a massive rush. While liquor buyers are putting themselves at risk by not maintaining social distancing norms, store staff have to interact with customers.

When the Andhra Pradesh government took over the sale of liquor in the state, it recruited around 12,000 contractual workers to work in wine shops operated by the Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corporation Limited (APSBCL). The primary job of these workers is to sell liquor at designated stores and handover cash and stock ledgers to concerned excise department officials. All retail liquor store workers are contractual employees and do not have benefits such as employee health insurance and term insurance.