As announced by the state government, the TASMAC liquor shops in Tamil Nadu have resumed the operations on Saturday letting the tipplers throng before the shops. Unlike last week where the state encountered the breach on the social distancing norms at the outlets, the government has, for this time, rolled out some regulations to contain the crowd.

After the Supreme Court cleared the way to re-open the TASMAC shops, the Tamil Nadu government has, on Friday, announced that about 3,600 outlets across the state will be re-opened on Saturday. 

However, by citing the increase of COVID-19 cases, the government hasn't permitted to re-open the shops in Chennai and Tiruvallur and the outlets located in Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram districts that fall under the limits of Chennai Police will remain closed. 

According to fresh regulations issued by the government, only 70 individuals can buy liquors per hour at each shop and when all the outlets put together, a total of 18 lakh people can buy liquor every day and TASMAC will be issuing 500 coupons every day at each shop so that the shops won't get overcrowded and these tokens will be used to check on the number of customers. As per the order to ensure social distancing, the state government will be allowing only 500 people to buy liquor at one outlet per day.

The government has deployed five policemen and home guards at each outlet to ensure that the tipplers adhere to the social distancing norms. The tokens will be given to people on a first come first serve basis and the authorities will be issuing seven different colors of tokens for seven days a week and people who have got tokens will be allowed to stand in the queue to buy liquor.

The outlets at the containment zones across the state would remain closed and the state had witnessed a huge crowd as many tipplers queued before the shops from the early morning hours of Saturday. However, the reports stated that the authorities hadn't asked the tipplers to produce their Aadhaar cards. Previously when the liquor shops opened on May 7, the TASMAC mandated to provide Aadhaar cards to ascertain the age of the buyers. 

On Friday, Supreme Court has stayed the order of the Madras High Court which directed to close the shops and upon the fresh order from the apex court, the state has re-opened the shops, which are one of the major revenue generators for the state government, amid the rapid spread of the Coronavirus. 

Also read: TN Govt to re-open TASMAC shops from May 16 - Here's the update!