Reopening of bars attached to Tasmac outlets on the cards following requests from owners

Liquor shops and bars attached to them were closed in March as a part of lockdown measures due to the pandemic. However, facing severe fund crush, the government had allowed liquor shops to reopen from May but did not permit these bars, numbering about 3,100. A senior official from Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) told DT Next that it was looking into possibilities of opening the bars, and was discussing the matter with health experts following request from bar owners.

As the first step, all of them would be inspected to find out whether they have proper ventilation. “The list of bars that are fit for opening will be taken into consideration. Also, a new standard operating procedure (SOP) exclusively for bar functioning will be drawn up,” he said.

The SOP would include seating arrangements to maintain proper social distance and sanitising methods that have to be adopted inside the bars, the official said. “After consulting with the health department officials, the report will be submitted to the State government,” he added. The loss of revenue due to the closure of bars was more than Rs 500 crore. “Most its licences have to be renewed, for tenders will be floated. This time, the licence will be issued or renewed based on the inspection report. It will be cancelled if the bar owners do not strictly adopt SOP,” said the official.

According to him, there were several complaints that tipplers were consuming liquor in open spaces near the liquor outlets, car parking area inside malls and roads due to the closure of bars. “Some owners of small eateries also allowed customers to use the space to consume liquor to increase their sales,” the official claimed.