By PTI
MANDSAUR: Liquor shops in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur city will offer a 10 per cent discount on country liquor to people who take the second jab of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, an official said on Tuesday.
However, the move drew criticism from an MLA of the ruling BJP, who said it will encourage people to consume liquor.
The Madhya Pradesh government will organise a mega campaign on Wednesday to cover more population under its coronavirus vaccination programme.
A 10 per cent discount will be given on purchase of country liquor at three shops located at Sitamau Fatak, Bhuniakhedi and Old Bus Stand, Mandsaur’s district excise officer Anil Sachan said.
This discount will be given to people who take the second and final jab on Wednesday, he said.
The decision was taken to encourage people to take their second vaccine dose during the mega vaccination campaign, the official said.
If the experiment proves successful, it will be implemented in other parts of the district as well, he added.
However, BJP MLA from Mandsaur Yashpal Singh Sisodiya has opposed the decision, saying the move was not proper.
This is not a decision taken by the state government, and it will encourage people to consume liquor, he said in a tweet.
Earlier, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had expressed concern over people not turning up to take the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
The state government has set a deadline of December-end to complete vaccination of all eligible people.
Earlier this month, district excise officer in neighbouring Khandwa district R P Kirar had ordered liquor shops to ask customers to verbally self-attest about receiving vaccination before serving them.
As on November 23, a total of 8,12,79,730 anti-coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in the state.
With an addition of 12 new cases, the COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh rose to 7,93,052 on Tuesday, while one more patient succumbed to the infection, a health department official said.
The death toll increased by one to reach 10,527, the official said.
The state’s recovery count increased to 7,82,435 after 12 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, he said.
There are now 90 active coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh.
With 53,493 swab samples examined during the day, the number of tests conducted in the state went up to 2,14,70,618, he said.
According to an official release, a total of 8,12,79,730 anti-coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered so far in the state, including 3,93,888 on Tuesday.
Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 7,93,052, new cases 12, death toll 10,527, recoveries 7,82,435, active cases 90, total tests 2,14,70,618.
Four fully-vaccinated Army officers, two of them participating in a course of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), tested positive for coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore district, an official said on Tuesday.
“Four Army officers have tested positive for coronavirus in the last three days in Indore. They had received both doses of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine. They have no symptoms and their condition is fine,” said Dr Amit Malakar, nodal officer, COVID-19, Indore.
He said two of the infected officers are residents of the Army Cantonment located in nearby Mhow town and two others are enrolled for the IIM Indore’s Certificate Course in Business Management for Defence Officers (CCBMDO).
Meanwhile, the IIM administration has decided to stop the offline classes and will conduct them virtually.
“As a precautionary measure, we have decided to conduct online classes instead of offline for a batch of 60 participants of CCBMDO course after some of them tested positive for the pandemic, IIM Indore director Himanshu Rai said.
He, however, said that participants in the current batch of CCBMDO were not staying at the IIM campus.
A separate classroom was arranged on the campus for them, he added.
“Those who had come in contact with the participating Army officers during the study at the IIM campus have tested negative for coronavirus,” he said.
In another development, a 69-year-old fully vaccinated woman succumbed to the COVID-19 infection in Indore on Saturday, Malakar said, adding that she died at Mhow’s Military Hospital.
