CHENNAI: Booze flows round-the-clock in Chennai! Though, only at select bars attached with TASMAC retail outlets. The official time to down shutters is 8 pm. However, as the clock ticks past the stipulated time, tipplers wanting to quench their thirst line up. They have no complaint even though they are forced to shell out more money. TNIE noticed sales at bars in T Nagar and Ambattur.
A TASMAC employee on anonymity said every locality has such outlet-cum-bars due to high demand. Customers visiting beyond 8 pm have to pay at least 30 per cent more than the MRP irrespective of brand, resulting in creation of unaccounted money.
Nexus between owners and officials?
A retired police officer said liquor shops and bars are places where stakeholders (TASMAC staff, bar owners and employees) can make quick money by charging extra and resorting to malpractices when consumers get inebriated.
When asked if higher-level officers also get a cut, he said those in the IPS-cadre would mostly not get into such things. Another retired official, who had served as a deputy commissioner, said customers are fleeced during illegal sales to grease hands of law enforcement officers and local politicians, and the rest goes into bar owners’ pockets.
“Some police personnel take bribes to cover operational costs of their respective police stations,” he said.
K Thiruselvan, general secretary of the CITU-affiliated Tasmac Oozhiyarkal Maanila Sammelanam, said Tamil Nadu has more than 5,000 (Chennai around 350) TASMAC retail outlets and only around 2,800 of them have licensed bars attached. He said the government is losing out on the monthly bar license fees, which is presently being pocketed by owners and others who are allowing this to happen. During a scrutiny of transfer applications recently, it was reportedly found that several inspectors had used their connections with ministers and other people in power to get a transfer to select police stations, including Ambattur, which has at least three dozen TASMAC shops.
The second most wanted police station city was Pallikaranai, which also reportedly has more number of outlets compared to other areas. A senior officer in the police commissionerate told TNIE that immediate action is taken when public flag such issues. “Local officers (SHOs) are responsible to enforce the restriction. If there is a violation, action would be taken against them as well,” the official said.
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