Read: Why Delhi liquor shops will remain closed for 45 days starting next month

This crisis will only worsen in the coming weeks as demand will only shoot up in the months of October and November ahead of the festive season.

With new retail licences coming into force from mid-November, liquor shortage is being witnessed in the national capital. Under the new excise policy of the city government, retail liquor sale licences have already been allocated to the highest bidders in 32 zones, each having around 10 wards and 27 liquor vendors.

Delhi is witnessing a major shortage of liquor as all the private retail vendors have stopped restocking their supplies since they have to shut their respective shops from October 1 to ensure an easy-going transition to the new excise regime, which starts from November 16.

This crisis will only worsen in the coming weeks as demand will only shoot up in the months of October and November ahead of the festive season.

Currently, there are 849 liquor stores in Delhi, of which 276 are privately run. The rest are operated by Delhi government agencies.

This is not good news for the rest of the 106 municipal wards for Delhi in which no liquor shops will open till November 16.

There are around 80 wards in the city without any liquor vendors. In 26 wards, there are presently only privately-owned liquor vendors that will close down from October 1. The 26 municipal wards where there are only private liquor vendors include RK Puram, Andrews Ganj, Lajpat Nagar, Patparganj, Rajouri Garden, Tughlaqabad, Kotla Mubarakpur, Inderpuri, Rani Bagh, Rohtash Nagar, Jilmil and Pandav Nagar.

What does this new policy mean?

The Delhi government has made its new liquor policy public in the month of July which states equal distribution of liquor outlets in the national capital. The policy made itself clear that the government will exit the business of selling liquor through its undertaking.

The equal distribution of liquor outlets includes at least two air-conditioned vends in every municipal ward, five super-premium stores, and 10 stores at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

It is being done to eliminate overcharging and brand influence. In contrast to the older policy in which the licensee is not allowed to give any discount or rebate on the MRP, the new policy will leave the licensee to decide on these matters.

The policy also states that every vendor shall provide a walk-in experience and should be designed accordingly. Each customer shall be given access inside the vendor and the entire selection and sale process shall be completed within the vendor premise.