NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, MAY 16
After a week’s hiatus, sale of alcoholic beverages at government-owned TASMAC outlets resumed in non-containment zones of Tamil Nadu on Saturday amid police security except in State capital Chennai and neighbouring Tiruvallur district.
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The government decided to open the shops on Saturday, following the Supreme Court verdict. The apex court had stayed the Madras High Court order which ordered closure of shops last week.
As part of measures to avoid crowding and ensure social distancing, authorities implemented colour-coded token system that specified the date and time allotted for the bearers at a designated outlet.
To prevent unmanageable crowds witnessed in several places when the shops reopened on May 7 after a 43-day dry spell, the authorities limited the number of tokens per day to 500 and 70 for an hour from Saturday.
The shops are open from 10 am to 5 pm. Adequate police personnel were deployed to regulate crowd and tokens were distributed at separate locations away from the liquor shops and only those who had the coloured slips were allowed to buy beverages at the outlets.
Across the state, booze sale is on at a brisk pace as men sporting masks and helmets stood in serpentine queues maintaining individual distance in most places.
The crowds were moderate as well in several locations in districts including Coimbatore. Several men could be seen standing with umbrellas in districts like Erode, Tirupur and at Madurantakam in Kancheepuram district.
The shops functioned only for two days (barring Chennai and a string of neighbourhoods under city police control though they fell under Chengelpet, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts) and were shut since May 9 following Madras High Court directives which ordered closure of shops over flouting of guidelines like social distancing.
At least 34 outlets in nearby Chengelpet district including those in Mamallapuram, Tiruporur, Tirukazhukundram and Vadanemelli that saw huge crowds on May 7 and 8 were also closed today.
Additional police personnel were deployed at the exit/entry points to Chennai to prevent people from venturing out of here to neighbouring Kancheepuram district to buy liquor.
