Overview
- Authorities have begun enforcing Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s order to close 717 TASMAC liquor outlets, the state’s own liquor shops, within 500 metres of schools, temples and bus stands.
- In Chennai’s Royapettah, a shop near a girls’ school, a mosque and a temple has shut, with its stock moved to a government warehouse.
- Residents in Tiruvannamalai and Vellore are pressing for permanent relocations near the Girivalam Path and school zones, citing harassment, fights and people sleeping on footpaths.
- After an outlet closed in Mettupalayam, the remaining shop in nearby Kugaiyanallore grew crowded, showing how closures can shift drinkers to other sites.
- The government frames the move as protecting women and youth despite TASMAC contributing about Rs 40,000 crore to state revenue each year.