COIMBATORE: Tasmac employees will no longer need to collect empty liquor bottles from customers by June, as the government is working on changes to the deposit system, said Prohibition and Excise Minister K Vignesh on Thursday evening.
The minister made this statement while speaking to Tasmac employees in Coimbatore, following their petition. A video of the meeting was circulated among the employees, which shows Vignesh telling them that discussions are under way to ensure staff do not have to handle empty bottles, and that stickers for the Rs 10 bottle deposit will be pasted during manufacturing itself, and not by employees at shops.
Further, the minister said, “If employees collect an additionalRs 10 per bottle, over the deposit amount, only Rs 1 or Rs 1.50 reaches you and the rest goes to someone else. Yet, employees take the blame while others reap the rewards. Therefore, employees should collect only the Rs 10 deposit amount, not anything extra. We must first end the practice of collecting additional money per bottle,” he said.
He said Tasmac was started to eliminate illicit liquor and prevent people from turning to unsafe alternatives, and not just for the sake of revenue. “Since 2003, Tasmac has been portrayed as a department only for earning money and wrongdoings,” he said.
“Pay hikes for employees will be implemented in phase manner. I have been studying the department’s history for the past eight days. If I had studied this well earlier, I could have become an IAS officer,” he said in a lighter vein. He added that the chief minister has directed irregularities in the bar system to be eliminated.
Vignesh added that both tipplers and Tasmac staff have been affected by the current system. “Like people are addicted to alcohol, some of our staff are addicted to certain practices. We have to recover them both. They also need to be reformed, and that will definitely happen.”