A day after TASMAC shops that sell liquor in Tamil Nadu re-opened, the Madras High Court on Friday ordered the closure of all such outlets in the state till the lockdown to prevent coronavirus spread is lifted.
The order is a major embarrassment to the Tamil Nadu government which reopened the TASMAC shops despite a massive spurt in the number of coronavirus cases in the state.
A special division bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and Pushpa Sathyanarayana passed the interim order citing blatant violations of a slew of conditions imposed by the court on May 6, while permitting the reopening of shops from May 7. However, the division bench on Friday allowed the sale of liquor online.
The court had on May 6 imposed conditions like strict adherence to social distancing for reopening the shops. As many as 3,700 of the total 5,300 TASMAC shops reopened after over 40 days on Thursday raking in over Rs 172 crore in revenue in just seven hours of functioning.
The sales figures for Friday were not available till the time of writing. Social distancing rules were flouted at the majority of the TASMAC shops on Thursday and Friday with tipplers jostling with each other to get their share of booze.
Friday’s orders came on a batch of petitions moved by several, including Makkal Needhi Maiam of actor Kamal Haasan, alleging that conditions imposed by the court were not followed at TASMAC shops.
It was not immediately known whether the Tamil Nadu government will go in for an appeal against the order or will stay silent. TASMAC is one of the biggest revenue generators for the Tamil Nadu government, raking in sales of Rs 80 crore every day.
The reopening of TASMAC shops was criticised by political parties and doctors alike saying it would lead to the emergence of more clusters.
“All the hard work, the Government has done so far against #COVID19 has been neutralised by the opening of TASMAC shops. It is disheartening to see lakhs of people standing in the queue without following Social Distancing, which will lead to a wave of people being infected with Covid-19,” former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said before the verdict.
Dr. J. Amalorpavanathan, a vascular surgeon and convenor of the Tamil Nadu government’s Cadaver Transplant Programme, also felt the government could have avoided opening of TASMAC shops at this juncture as overcrowding by tipplers could result in the emergence of new clusters in the state.
“This virus can be controlled only by isolation. We do not have a medicine or vaccine to control COVID-19. The only medicine we have is isolating people who carry the virus. The only way to fight the virus is to keep people inside and avoid crowds. But the opening of TASMAC shops where people do not follow discipline will only lead to new clusters,” he told DH.
Maintaining that he was not “against those consuming liquor”, the vascular surgeon said the government was also “over-stressing” the police force by making them provide protection to TASMAC shops during a pandemic.
“We cannot compare ourselves to western countries as liquor is sold in departmental stores there. And here it is very difficult to avoid crowding at liquor shops. If the overcrowding continues, we will have a series of TASMAC clusters in the state. Also, this is not the time to generate revenue,” Amalorpavanathan added.
However, Dr. Sumanth C Raman, a doctor by profession and a popular TV face who is tracking Covid-19 developments in Tamil Nadu closely, says the government had no option than to open liquor shops, the sole income generator for now.
“Having said that, managing crowds at TASMAC shops and ensuring that people follow social distancing is the government’s responsibility. But, the government, for now, has no source of income and opening TASMAC shops is not a pleasant decision that they have taken,” he told DH.
He suggested that the government could have been cash-strapped to pay salaries for its staff, pay pension, and even fund welfare programmee if it had continued to keep the liquor shops shut.
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