Chennai, Nov 29: Ending the role of private sector, the Tamil Nadu government today commenced sale of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) through over 6,000 shops all over the state in a move aimed at curbing spurious liquor and cartelisation of the trade. The outlets had been set up by state-owned Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) and co-operative societies in urban and rural areas respectively.
Officials said the changeover was smooth and the shops did brisk business throughout the state.
Women's organisations and public staged protests in several places against the location of some of the shops near temples, schools and residential areas.
The government recently promulgated an ordinance on taking over the sale of liquor in the state as there were numerous instances of sale of spurious and illicit liquor in licenced premises and "cartelisation" of trade resulting in huge revenue loss to the state.
The sale of liquor by the government agencies began today after the Madras High Court, hearing batch of petitions challenging the ordinance, yesterday modified its earlier order permitting existing shops to continue their business by a week by making it applicable to only 879 retailers who had already deposited the 'privilege amount' specified by the state government.
A Madurai report said sale of liquor in TASMAC-run shops began on a brisk note in southern districts and customers thronged the outlets from early morning. Bureau Report