Coronavirus COVID-19: Facing flak, Tamil Nadu defers opening of state-run liquor stores in Chennai

After facing criticism from the opposition, the Tamil Nadu government`s decision to open up the state-run TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing corporation) liquor outlets falling under Chennai-city Police limits is deferred and will not open from May 7.

Chennai: After facing criticism from the opposition, the Tamil Nadu government has decided not to open up the state-run TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing corporation) liquor outlets falling under Chennai-city Police limits from May 7.

On Monday, when the state witnessed its highest-ever surge in coronavirus cases, the Government announced its decision to open state-run liquor outlets (does not include bars) across the state starting May 7. The Tamil Nadu government's decision to open liquor shops came at the time when the state was seeing a nearly three-fold rise in daily Covid-19 cases which drew a lot of flak. Leaders from across the spectrum lashed out at the government.

The State government had mentioned that the decision to open liquor stores was taken after noting that people living in the border areas were traveling in large numbers to neighboring states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, where liquor stores have already opened. 

The announcement to open liquor stores also came with guidelines of maintaining 6-feet distance between customers, a limit on 5 customers at a time, and that shops can deploy more workforce to avoid crowding. 

 ''Doesn’t the government realize that it’s every mistake is taking away lives. After failing to protect the Koyambedu market the government wants to open liquor shops'', actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan tweeted. 

On the decision of not opening shops coming under Chennai Police, Political analyst and senior journalist Dr. Sumanth C Raman told WION, “it makes no sense, as people can always go to the nearby districts and buy liquor. This would mean that people travel longer distances and that crowding would be much more in stores that are open. People would also buy in bulk from elsewhere and start selling it in black in Chennai”.

However, Dr. Raman also added that, “Liquor brings in about 90 crores per day in Tamil Nadu and its been totally shut during the lockdown. The state government has no money, and are left with no option. They haven’t received the GST dues from the Central Government, so can the state do away with welfare schemes or hike prices of milk and bus fares and electricity rates ? The opposition will lash out at the ruling party for opening liquor shops, but they don’t offer solutions either. Can opposition parties close down the breweries owned by their leaders ?” 

While Tamil Nadu has deferred the opening of liquor shops within the Chennai City Police limits, the state-run TASMAC outlets will remain open in other parts of the state.

Not the decision of Tamil Nadu government on liquor price is still awaited. So far, Delhi has announced a 70% increase in prices of liquor, due to a new ‘Corona tax’.

Meanwhile, the number of cases in Tamil Nadu stood at 3550 out of which 2107 are active cases. 1438 of the active cases are in the state's capital city Chennai, which has a high population density.