Taking a u-turn on its decision, the Tamil Nadu government said liquor shops in Chennai that were supposed to re-open from May 7, will now not be opening from Thursday. The shops will not open in the city till further orders by the administration. Earlier, the state government has announced that it would open the liquor outlets from May 7 onwards. The shops once open would remain open between 10 am and 5 pm.
However, on Tuesday the government without giving any reasons said the liquor outlets in Chennai will continue to remain closed till a fresh date for their reopening is announced. The liquor retail in Tamil Nadu is a state monopoly run by the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation or popularly known as Tasmac. There are over 5,300 Tasmac liquor outlets in the state contributing about Rs 30,000 crore of tax revenue to the state exchequer.
The revenue from the liquor bottle sales was bottled up during the lockdown period.
The Tamil Nadu government said in order to control the movement of people in the border areas with Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as liquor shops have been opened there, the decision to open the liquor shops in the state was taken.
Major opposition parties in the state had strongly criticised the government's decision to open the liquor outlets at a time when the number of persons getting infected with Coronavirus in the state are on the rise.
On Monday, the number of persons testing positive for Coronavirus in Chennai was 266 and in the state it was 527.
(With inputs from IANS)
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