In a statement on Sunday, PMK president Anbumani asked if the announcement made by Excise Minister V. Senthilbalaji on April 12 in the Tamil Nadu Assembly that around 500 Tasmac shops would be closed was just an eye wash.
There are no signs that they would be shut down, he added.
He said the standard answer of the State Government seems to be that a counting of shops that are going to be shut down is being held whenever questions are raised over why the shops are not closed down yet.
“The data on how many liquor stores are there and its location, its revenue, and where public have protested are already with the TASMAC administration. It can access the data in one hour and create a list of 500 shops that needs to be shut down. But, one cannot find a reason why TASMAC is struggling to do this,” he said.
Dr. Anbumani said a total of 1000 liquor shops – 500 in 2016, 500 in 2017 – were shut down.
“After the announcement in 2016, the liquor shops were shut down within 27 days. Today, the number of liquor shops is less than what the number was in 2016,” he said, questioning the delay of 40 days.
