The Assam government had passed an order allowing bars to remain open in Kamrup (M) on weekdays from 10 am to 5 pm.
These bars had been closed since the beginning of lockdown 1.0 in the last week of March.
Following this order, G Plus conducted a poll on its social media channels and asked Guwahatians whether the new bar opening timings from 10 am to 5 pm in Guwahati would help the business.
More than 5,000 people participated in the poll.
The results showed that 29 percent of people thought that the new timing would help the business, whereas, 71 percent of voters believed that the same will not be helpful.
They actively commented on G Plus’s post on Social Media Platforms after casting their votes in the poll conducted on 7 August, 2020.
One Facebook user Sushil Harlalka who voted ‘Yes’ said, “It is not the point that Bar timing is 10 AM to 5 PM. We should be positive and think that we are moving towards a normal life.”
A lot of other social media users responded by clicking on the ‘Yes’ option.
However, those who felt otherwise were the ones to comment the most on the post. Those who had contradictory views about the same, who also voted ‘No’ in the poll, had these views.
A Facebook user, Sumon Kalyan Dutta, a resident of Rajgarh locality of Guwahati said, “We can avail this timing if drinking is made official so that we can go to the bar in our private vehicles or else no point opening bar as we can drive our own vehicles only for official work, not for recreation. A point to ponder.”
Another Facebook user, Ameet Kaushalya went on to add, “It's just because govt wants to get money from renewal of liquor licenses.”
A very frustrated Guwahatian took the opportunity to pour his heart out on a myriad of issues that he thought needed attention.
“Leave bars, the decision of present evening curfew is not good at all. Some are working from home but think about office employees or a single person living in the city, most grocery shops get closed at 4 pm and offices at 5 pm. Weekends are closed, then how do we buy grocery or household items? Have to skip or bunk office as the government is thinking!” said a netizen, Saurav Bhowmik.
“Evening curfew is very necessary but time management is essential! Make offices shut down by 4 and shops by 5, then there will be a difference!” he added.
“Frankly speaking people who drink in the day time are mostly not the bar drinker types. So, I don't think this decision will help the bar owners much,” commented Andrew Wary on G Plus’ post.
On the same poll, conducted by G Plus on the microblogging platform Twitter, a Twitterati Shiharan Choudhury commented saying, “Outdoor liquor serving & consumption should be prohibited. Most late-night accidents happen when returning home from bars, driving under the influence of alcohol!”
“It would be very meagre. Nobody goes to a bar in the afternoon except for students mostly. But with no colleges open even that is out of the window now. Instead, they should be allowed to sell their stocks at regular market rates. This is not the time you'd expect people to go out for a hearty lunch,” said an Instagram user Shubro Dam.
By assessment of these comments on various social media platforms on the poll conducted by G Plus, it is evident that people do not think the new bar timings will help bar owners or restaurant owners that sell liquor at their outlets.
In addition to this, it is also clear that Guwahatians do not think that the bar timings or night curfew are justified, however, there are some citizens that find the new timings and guidelines justified at the time of this pandemic.
