Amid raging COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, PMK Chief Dr.Ramadoss has on Tuesday urged the state government to shut down the TASMAC outlets to curb the spread of the pandemic. His demand has come at a high time when the state-owned liquor outlets have resumed the token system to reduce the over-crowding. 

Taking to Twitter, Ramadoss said that the night curfew between 10 pm to 4 am is not sufficient, and much stricter measures without affecting the people should be taken. He further demanded the government to close the TASMAC outlets as a large number of boozers throng before the outlets to buy alcohol. 

Tamil Nadu government has announced the night curfew and weekend lockdown in the state. The night curfew between 10 pm to 4 am will come to effect on April 20- Tuesday and will likely stay in place till the month-end. However, the government hadn't issued an order to shut down the TASMAC outlets which stirred outrage across the state. The government has faced severe objections over operating the alcohol shops amid the COVID-19 second wave, post which it has announced to invoke the token system. 

The token system to manage the crowd of boozers was in place in 2020 against the backdrop of the first COVID-19 wave and it has now come to play its role as one of the preventive measures to curb the spread. According to reports, the Managing Director of TASMAC has sent a set of advisories to all the district units to ensure that alcohol is sold only to those who come to the outlet with a token. The outlets have also been instructed not to have more than five customers at a time at the counter. The sale timing of the outlets has been reduced by one hour with the view of controlling the crowd. 

The reports say that the sale at the TASMAC outlets across the state will end at 9 pm and no tokens will be issued to customers after 8 pm. Along with reducing the time, the barricades will be placed around 200 meters from the outlets and alcohol will not be sold in bulk or to those without face masks. The TASMAC management will be putting place markers at the outlets to ensure that the customers adhere to the physical distancing norms. 

While the government has shown that it is not ready to close the outlets, which are the highest contributor to the state's revenue, and it will be satisfying both the containment policy and the boozers, through the order, it has been surfaced with the demand to shut down the outlets completely to avoid the rampant spread of the pandemic. PMK Leader Ramadoss has now joined the line in demanding the government to shut down the outlets.