Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday hiked the prices of alcohol at Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) outlets across the state. The decision was taken in Wednesday's cabinet meeting.
The tipplers will have to shell out Rs 10 extra on a bottle of beer and Rs 12 on hot drinks. The AIADMK had, in its 2016 election manifesto, said that it will prohibit the consumption of alcohol in the state, but the implementation will come in a phased manner.
The late chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa, after being sworn in as the chief minister, had ordered shutting down 500 TASMAC outlets, and reduction in the working hours of remaining outlets by 2 hours.
However, the sale of liquor flourished in the black market despite a reduction in the number of hours. The consumers, it is said, were more than willing to pay extra money for liquor bottles.
The Current chief minister, Edapadi K Palaniswamy, ordered closing 500 more TASMACs after taking charge in February 2017. Despite state government's efforts to implement prohibition in a phased manner. TASMACs posted a 4.45 per cent increase in revenues in 2016-17 as compared to the previous year - from Rs 25,845 crore in 2015-2016 to Rs. 26,995 in 2016-2017.
Employees working in these outlets, too, have admitted that the district secretaries have asked them to meet the target.
Hiking liquor prices could be seen as a baby step towards reducing the number of alcohol consumers in the state. Sources say that the move can stimulate state revenue by over Rs 2,000 crore per annum.
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