The Tamil Nadu government on Friday has issued orders to open state government-run TASMAC (liquor) shops from Saturday after the Supreme Court, eariler in the day, stayed the Madras High Court order for the closure of these shops.
According to the order, the liquor shops will be open from 10 am to 5 pm in the state, except Chennai, Thiruvallur, malls and containment zones. Also, the order stated that a token system needs to be followed and only 500 tokens will be issued per day.
Seven different colour coded tokens, that specify the time and day of the week were ready for distribution to consumers to buy liquor at the TASMAC (liquor) shops, reported PTI.
As per the new arrangement, those seeking to buy liquor will have to get token first and only then they could make the purchase on the date and time specified, said an office-bearer of a TASMAC workers association.
"Preparations for bringing out the tokens in seven colours including blue, green, navy blue, and violent began sufficiently in advance and tokens would be sent to all the outlets for distribution...approximately 500 persons will get the tokens on an average per day," said general secretary of TASMAC Workers Association D Dhanasekaran.
Meanwhile, five people died due to the virus in Tamil Nadu on Friday while 434 tested positive, taking the number of COVID-19 cases past the 10,000 mark, the state health department said.
Of the 434 fresh cases, 49 are passengers who arrived from overseas and other states. The total number of people who have tested positive for the virus till date is 10,108, the bulletin said.
(With PTI inputs)
