Thiruvananthapuram: There is a change in the timing for making a booking through the BevQ app for liquor purchase.
Bookings for a place in the virtual queues at state-run outlets and bar-cum-restaurants for the next day can now be done only from noon till 7 pm. Earlier, bookings were allowed from 6 am till 10 pm.
The BevQ app was launched by the Beverages Corporation Ltd (BEVCO) to regulate queues at liquor outlets and bar-restaurants when they were allowed to reopen. The app creates a virtual queue by assigning an outlet to customers through tokens issued on a first-come-first-serve basis.
When the app, which was marred by many technical and operational glitches after it was launched, started working again on Monday after a gap of two days, there was a rush for booking. Over 4.5 lakh bookings were made through the app for purchase of liquor on Tuesday.
However, the bookings made on Tuesday for Wednesday were relatively less. On Monday, 3 lakh tokens were booked in a matter of just an hour. But, on Tuesday, only 2.88 lakh bookings were made in over 3.5 hours. Even at 5 pm, there were only 3.28 lakh bookings.
The app faced a lot of criticism after its launch. Customers took to social media to complain that they couldn’t find the app using its official name in the Android Play Store. Many complained that they were not getting the one-time passwords (OTPs) required to make a booking.
Then there were many cases of users getting bookings at outlets that were far from their place of choice. Moreover, the app ended up issuing a large number of tokens than what was permitted, resulting in overcrowding at many shops.
While the problems with the app were fixed and it started functioning again on Monday, the QR system for verifying the tokens issued has not yet been put in place. The outlets are verifying tokens based on an email list of customers that is sent to them.
BevQ allows up to 400 simultaneous bookings for an outlet. There is no sale of liquor in either red zones or containment zones.
The app will not allow any changes in pin code once it has been set, its developer Faircode has said.
