Twitter
Advertisement

Liquor shops reopen in all non-containment zones of Tamil Nadu

The sale of alcohol resumed in all non-containment zones in Tamil Nadu on Saturday.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

The sale of alcohol resumed in all non-containment zones in Tamil Nadu on Saturday.

However, alcohol shops will remain closed in state capital city Chennai, and Tiruvallur district which are red zones.

The decision to re-open the liquor outlets came after the Supreme Court had stayed the Madras High Court’s decision to shut the shops during the lockdown period in the state. On May 8, just a day after the stores had opened for the first time in over 40 days, the High court had directed the state Government to shutter the outlets and allow liquor sales only via online mode. The High Court had ordered the shops shut following rampant violations of social distancing norms and the other guidelines laid out by the court.

The case filed by the Tamil Nadu government came up for hearing in the Supreme Court before a bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice BR Gavi, and Justice Nageshwara Rao, who delivered the verdict staying the High Court order, via video conferencing. 

Liquor is a major source of revenue for Tamil Nadu and estimates suggest that the state earns over Rs 90 crore a day from its sale. The sale of booze has been a state monopoly in Tamil Nadu. 

In an attempt to avoid crowding and ensure that social distancing rules are maintained, the authorities have implemented a colour coded token systems. The buyers are given tokens specifying the date and time to buy alcohol at a designated outlet.

The state police have been deployed outside liquor shops to manage the crowds, and the tokens are distributed at locations away from the liquor shops. The authorities have limited the number of tokens to 500 per store per day.

Over 3000 liquor shops are open across the state.

Ironically, the announcement regarding the re-opening of liquor outlets has come on a day when the state saw its total COVID-19 case count surpass 10,000. Tamil Nadu currently has 10,108 total cases of which 7,435 are active. There are a total of 5,946 cases recorded in Chennai, of which 5,114 are active. 

The state has so far seen 71 deaths and 2,599 recoveries.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement