NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, FEB 18
The Tamil Nadu government is firm on its stand in phased implementation of prohibition in the state, said the Minister for Prohibition and Excise P. Thangamani in the state assembly on Tuesday.
In reply to a question raised by the Padmanabhapuram DMK MLA T. Mano Thangaraj, the Minister said unlike the DMK, the AIADMK government believed in introducing phased prohibition.
When the MLA contended that the State government was increasingly dependent on revenue generated from liquor sales, the Minister said under the AIADMK regime, the business hours for TASMAC run liquor outlets were brought down by two hours and 1,000 liquor shops were shut down on the orders of the Chief Minister.
Thangamani pointed out that even during the erstwhile DMK regime the revenue generated through liquor sales was high. Since the price of liquor had gone up since then, it was naturally reflecting high on the revenue generated, he contended.
