The sale of liquor in TASMAC shops resumed on Saturday after a Supreme Court stay of a Madras High Court order. Sales were regulated, as a token system was followed to ensure there was a check on the number of customers. A team of five policemen and home guards were posted at each of the shops to regulate the crowd.
This time, TASMAC authorities issued tokens to allow people on a first-come-first-serve basis. The authorities are issuing seven different colours of tokens for the seven different days of a week.
“The tokens are given about 50 feet away from the shop, and only those who produce the tokens can stand in the queue in front of the shops,” a TASMAC supervisor said. A maximum of 70 tokens are being issued every hour.
While the local shops in the city did not see huge crowds, longer queues were reported at Elite bars. This time around however, authorities did not insist on the buyers producing their Aadhar cards as was done the last time the liquor shops.
In Madurai city, out of the 125 TASMAC shops in total, 118 have been allowed to open. “The rest were in containment zones,” a police officer said.
“We did not have much trouble this time,” an Inspector of Police said.
