58 liquor shops closed in Chennai region

In the Coimbatore and Salem regions, a total of 60 and 48 shops were shut down. Among the five regions and 33 districts of the TASMAC administration, a maximum of 201 outlets were closed in the Madurai region, followed by 133 in Tiruchirapalli region. 

Soon after assuming office as CM on May 23, Jayalalithaa signed five files including reducing the TASMAC shop timings by two hours and said 500 liquor shops would be closed down in the first phase. Barely three weeks after signing the files, the government issued orders to close down 500 TASMAC outlets from Sunday. 

Over the years, TASMAC revenue has been on the increase with every passing year and it crossed Rs 25,000-crore mark during the last two years.  A total of Rs 70 crore was earned as revenue per day across the state. With the closing down of 500 shops, the state government was expected to lose a revenue of about Rs 5 to Rs 5 crores per day. 

TASMAC Managing Director R Kirlosh Kumar issued instructions for closure of 500 retail vending liquor shops with effect from Sunday. The 500 shops which were permanently shut down were identified after taking into account the recommendations of the district collectors, senior regional managers of TASMAC and inputs from the district managers of TASMAC. 

The existing stocks of liquor in the outlets were transferred to godowns in lorries. Other items like furniture, cash chest box, billing machines, coolers and all records relating to the shops were handed over to district managers concerned. The Chief Minister has also ordered that all the staff members in the 500 shops that were closed would be redeployed in their respective category like supervisors, salesmen and assistant salesmen. They would be posted in the same district according to the existing vacancies. 

The surplus manpower would be posted in other regions where vacancies exist. Leaders of various political parties welcomed the closing down of 500 shops.  Union Minister and Senior BJP leader Pon Radhakrishnan and BJP State Unit President Tamilisai Soundararajan hailed the government’s action closing down 500 shops in the first phase. They also wanted the government to take earnest steps in fulfilling its promise of total prohibition in a phased manner. Tamil Maanila Congress demanded that the Tamil Nadu government bring out a timetable with details of how it planned to close liquor outlets in a phased manner, as promised by the ruling AIADMK.

“People of Tamil Nadu are expecting closure of all TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) outlets. I request the government to come with a timetable giving details of closure of all TASMAC outlets in a phased manner in the state,” TMC president G K Vasan told reporters.