kolkata tipplers in kolkata could be missing out on their favourite poison this puja with private liquor distributors who will have their trading right cancelled after november dwindling their stocks both offshops and onshops in kolkata are facing a supply crunch that could worsen during the ensuing festive season when demand soars say industry sources the state government is set to take over liquor distribution in kolkata through the west bengal state beverages corporation ltd which has now replaced private distribution across bengal except kolkata and south 24 parganas according to a section of retailers and restaurateurs with time running out for distributors in the city the latter are reluctant to build up stocks resulting in a 80 drop in supply several premium brands like johnnie walker red label blue label teachers black dog and bacardi have already turned scarce across offshops and bars according to sudesh poddar president hotel and restaurants association of eastern india hraei we are now getting about two days supply from distributors which is inadequate once we run out of stocks we are having to wait for at least three days for fresh supplies with sales set to rise during the pujas we will surely be running out of the more briskly selling brands to make matters worse for us they have also discontinued credit facility which has put us under a financial strain said poddar distributors on the other hand claimed that it doesnt make sense for them to hold larger stocks since they are about to be thrown out of business previously we would procure and supply around 10 days stocks to retailers and bars since the volume was larger the transactions would be on credit now with our licenses set to be cancelled we have cut down our stocks or else we could be left with unsold stuff said shiv sultania director east india spirits liquorserving restaurants and offshops are already feeling the pinch we are just about managing to meet the demand but since our stocks are depleted even a marginal surge in sales could lead to a crisis we are a little worried about the puja period said rajiv kothari owner of barbq and one step up on park street others like oasis are banking on loyal distributors to keep stocks flowing in so far our distributors have not reduced supplies so we are lucky but we have rationalized our stocks and have stopped acquiring some of the slowmoving brands we are also trying to build stocks to last beyond the puja period said pratap daryanani owner of oasis restaurant kothari pointed out that several premium scotch brands were short in supply by prithvijit mitra tnn published on sep 18 2017 at 0615 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to