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Chandigarh: The Union Territory of Chandigarh does not merely drink; it performs the act with gusto, consuming nearly 6.5 times the average national per capita liquor intake, under the proudly upheld Punjabi credo of Egg, Leg, and Peg – the egg for ballast, the chicken leg for bravado, and the peg for liquid momentum.

Seemingly, even such indulgence in the City Beautiful, as Chandigarh calls itself, is governed by this carefully ordered ritual, honed over time.

Latest statistics from the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIACB) revealed that the city’s 12.5-odd lakh residents consumed 23.02 lakh cases of country spirits, imported and Indian-made foreign liquor Financial Year 2024–25 or an average of 1.84 cases, or 22 bottles, per person.

The Tribune newspaper, which published these statistics on Thursday (February 19), reported that over five financial years, from 2021 to January 31, 2026, 13.21 crore liquor bottles were sold in Chandigarh – averaging over eight bottles per person per year. The newspaper editorially noted that such robust – even bacchanalian – levels of consumption reflected “a compact, prosperous, urbanised territory with unusually high spending power and a liberalised retail environment.”

Such staggering liquor sales in a single city, compared with state-wide consumption across India, are not just abstract statistics; they are visible in hundreds of liquor shops across Chandigarh, which also serves as the joint capital of Haryana and Punjab. These shops are no longer pokey, modest counters with dusty, half-empty shelves, but sprawling, mall-like brilliantly-lit establishments with glass façades, sleek display units, and aisles that resemble airport duty-free stores.

On most days, they hum with brisk footfalls, but on weekends and around festivals like Holi and Diwali, a regular scrum prevails inside them. Cars double-park outside, while indoors, shopping baskets fill rapidly and customers manoeuvre toward the billing counters with the focus and resolve of centre-forwards in a determined pack.

With patrons spoiled for choice, debates frequently flare up on these shop floors over which brand is superior, arguments weighing smoothness against strength and prestige against price – each opinion delivered with the........

© The Wire