The Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (Tasmac) on Friday said its shops would revert to pre-COVID-19 timings — noon to 10 p.m. — with immediate effect. Prior to the announcement, the outlets were operating from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
In a circular sent to all senior regional managers and district managers, L. Subramanian, managing director, Tasmac, said COVID-19 protocols should be followed.
Following the announcement, many workers felt keeping the outlets open till 10 p.m. was not a good idea. D. Dhanasekaran, general secretary of the Tasmac Workers’ Association, pointed out that the risk of disease transmission was yet to subside, and the news about the new variant of the novel coronavirus, Omicron, was also worrying.
Vaccination status
The employees also said it would be impossible to keep track of the vaccination status of people at Tasmac bars.
“The crowd is usually uncontrollable, and it will be difficult to verify vaccination certificates/details of each person who comes in to make a purchase,” said a salesperson at an outlet in Chennai.
Health Minister Ma. Subramanian had recently said that COVID-19 vaccination was mandatory for purchasing liquor from Tasmac shops, and that a directive in this regard would be issued.
