Mumbai, May 4 (IANS): Thousands of tipplers jostled outside the wine shops in Mumbai, Pune and other parts of Maharashtra amid soaring high expectations that liquor vending would be permitted in Lockdown 3.0, here on Monday.

State Excise Commissioner Kantilal Umap and other top officials made it clear that permission was not yet granted and urged people to stop crowding outside liquor retailers.

A liquor wholesaler from Malad in Mumbai Prasad Shetty told IANS that sentiments ran amok as people anticipated the green signal to come anytime, "but until then, I am not taking risks, the crowds appear too menacing."

Outside several liquor shops, long queues were witnessed in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Ratnagiri, and other towns as liquor connoisseurs thronged for a 'quota' of their favourite poison.

While in some places, the tipplers put up a disciplined show of 'physical distancing' at most other sites, it was a free-for-all cocktail of the masses, giving a harrowing time to the police who struggled to keep them apart.

"I have been here since 4 a.m. I am first in the queue, and now it has gone more than two kms long, but the shop has not yet opened," rued a weary but enthusiastic customer outside a Pune shop.

At one shop in Palghar, there were two queues outside one wine shop - one to the right and other to the left, leaving viewers amused, and they even hammered out an informal arrangement - "one from left, one from right"!

A Thane resident, Suresh Bhaskaran, aghast by the crowds outside a wine-shop observed: "Wonder if there will be similar crowds when all places of worship are thrown open after lockdown..!"

The owner of three wine-shops in Thane, Hemant Pamnani said that the police and the government authorities are still working out details on which liquor shops will be eligible to open as per the rules.

"Some shops opened up briefly and later shut down. We are hoping for clarity this afternoon. We have limited stocks and need to make arrangements from the suppliers," Pamnani told IANS.

A resident of Chandivali, Pradeep Menon said, "The crowds are simply uncontrollable, physical distancing is reduced to a joke, so the government must permit only online or home-delivery till the excitement subsides".

Not willing to take chances, many unabashed boozers came well-prepared - carrying empty rucksacks or travel bags - to lug home fully laden with bottles of their favourite spirits!