Chennai: After a dry spell of 43 days, liquor sale resumed at state-run outlets in Tamil Nadu except for Chennai amid bursting of crackers and distribution of cakes by some boisterous booze lovers as zealous consumers lined up in front of the stores since early morning to get their quota.
Opposing the move to reopen the liquor stores, DMK president M K Stalin, clad in black, held a placard and a black flag in front of his house here.
Slogans were raised briefly by DMK workers demanding the government to close down the outlets.
Stalin had claimed that the opening of liquor shops would lead to further increase in the spread of coronavirus. His party's allies including the MDMK and Left parties too opposed the move in a similar fashion.
The government had defended the move citing opening up of liquor stores in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and people going there in large numbers to buy booze.
Even before the shops were opened at 10 am in non-containment zones, the queue extended up to a few kilometres in several localities including those that fall under Cuddalore, Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Chengalpet and Thiruvallur districts. At quite a few shops, curiously, there were little takers and DMK spokesperson K S Radhakrishnan shared a picture in social media saying outlets were deserted in his native Kovilpatti bus terminus area.
In all districts, since a chunk of shops fell either in the containment or buffer zones, these were not opened. Some young men burst crackers and distributed cakes in Tirupur and in Madurai district consumers performed the traditional 'aarti' to usher in the opening of liquor shops. Others including shopkeepers broke coconuts and lit camphor.
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Store workers sported masks and gloves while dispensing alcoholic beverages.
People in Tirupur were seen in front of liquor stores with umbrellas as per a directive of the district administration to maintain social distance. Liquor outlets were shut on March 24 at 6 pm in Tamil Nadu and the stores are open from today between 10 am and 5 pm.
The resumption of sale witnessed implementation of new rules to prevent crowding, and ensure that only people from the local areas bought liquor within the set daily ceiling (750 ml).
Tokens were issued by authorities after checking Aadhar and other kinds of government-issued cards for age /residential proof.
Based on the token, consumers were sold liquor bottles. Wearing of masks and maintaining social distance were among the norms stipulated by the authorities. Barricades were put on the roadsides -ahead of the liquor stores- to ensure that people did not spill over into the roads.
Water pots and soaps were provided in several places for people to wash their hands.
In a number of towns, marriage halls were used to issue tokens and those who came to buy booze were made to sit on sprawling open grounds -maintaining social distance- at regions like Jolarpet (Tirupathur district).
Police personnel used public address system to regulate crowd and there were no reports of any untoward incidents though the cops used mild force to disperse people in a couple of locations.
Fixing time slot for specific age groups, the police set 10 am to 1 pm for people aged over 50 years, from 1 pm to 3 pm for those between 40-50 years and to those below 40, 3 pm to 5 pm was the set time.
Police had warned of tough action against those who ventured out from Chennai to outlets in neighbouring districts of Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Kanchipuram to buy booze. Chennai Police Commissioner A K Viswanathan inspected several checkpoints in the fringes of the city as part of measures to ensure that people do not violate norms by travelling to faraway places from the State capital areas to buy booze.
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Each and every store has been making brisk business which is expected to bring a good revenue for the Tamil Nadu government, which raised liquor prices to a maximum of Rs 20 from today.
The government has not allowed liquor sale in Chennai city and those on the periphery including Tambaram (Chengalpet district), Poonamallee (Tiruvallur district) and Iyyappanthangal (Kancheepuram district). Though such areas fall under different districts, these come under the jurisdiction of Chennai police. Such areas under city police limits are disallowed from opening outlets while other areas in these districts have opened their outlets.
On Wednesday, the Madras High Court refused to stay the reopening of TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) liquor shops in Tamil Nadu.
Hearing a batch of petitions opposing the reopening of shops, the court, however, restricted purchase by an individual to a single bottle of beverage (750 Ml) per day when payment is made by cash.
Directing the state to include digital payment options to prevent crowding and overcharging at shops, the court suggested to the government to encourage digital payment and suggested that a person can be allowed to get two bottles of beverage if cashless payment was made.
PTI
