After Supreme Court nod, Tasmac to open with token system, 500 customers per shop

The Supreme Court Friday stayed the Madras High Court order which had asked the Tamil Nadu government to close state-run liquor vends on the ground that there was violation of guidelines. An official release from the State government stated that the liquor shops will begin the sales at 10m and would end at 5 pm. “As had been submitted at the High Court and the Supreme Court, a token system would be introduced to ensure that only 500 persons bought liquor from a Tasmac outlet each day,” an official said.

On the introduction of new token system, a senior official from Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac), said it has been proposed to introduce colour-coded tokens for crowd management.

He said the tokens, which have been printed in seven colours that indicate the day of the week, will be issued accordingly to the buyers. Accordingly, the first 500 buyers would be given the token for the day while the remaining who approach the shop would be given tokens for the next day. “But, there is still a lot of confusion on how it will be implemented and whether it has reached all Tasmac outlets across the State,” the official said.