Chennai, Nov 3 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Law Minister R Nirmal Kumar on Tuesday took a stern view of the ongoing protests by TASMAC employees, and alleged that the agitation is being instigated by external "Karur companies" and individuals who are unhappy with the TVK government's anti-corruption measures.
Asserting that the protest by the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) employees was not a spontaneous workers' protest, he alleged that they were being covertly instigated by external "Karur companies" and individuals whose illicit profits have been hit by the new transparency measures.
"These external groups, who previously monopolised the unregulated bottle buy-back trade, are weaponising worker grievances because the new digital tracking system completely eliminates their illegal profit margins," the Minister told reporters here.
He highlighted that the government has launched extensive reforms to streamline the collection of empty liquor bottles.
The department previously suffered massive revenue losses due to widespread mismanagement, with estimated daily leakages running between Rs 60 crore and Rs 80 crore from empty bottle tracking alone. To dismantle this entrenched corruption, the government rolled out a technologically secure system that utilises unique QR codes and OTP verification to systematically monitor and log the return of every empty bottle, he said.
Minister Nirmal Kumar pointed out that these transparency protocols have directly hit the illegal profits of vested interests, prompting them to instigate workers into staging protests.
He reaffirmed the administration's firm stance and said the state government would not bow down to pressure from groups seeking to revive the old, fraudulent collection network and emphasised that the legitimate grievances of TASMAC employees have already been comprehensively addressed by the government, which included multiplying their salaries by two-and-a-half to three times, along with ensuring institutional provisions to cover rent and electricity bills.
The agitation by TASMAC employees from November 1 led to widespread closure of hundreds of state-run liquor outlets across Tamil Nadu, including major hubs like Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, and Tiruchirappalli.
The workers are protesting against a newly introduced environmental and social welfare cess. Under this updated buyback scheme, an additional Rs 10 is added to the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of all liquor variants. While consumers can get the Rs 10 refunded by returning the empty bottles, TASMAC workers are protesting against the operational burden it placed on them, citing lack of storage space for returned bottles at retail outlets.
Also, they are protesting against the complex requirement of scanning bottles multiple times, and lack of basic amenities like proper toilets at the outlets.
TASMAC management suspended 245 retail shop supervisors for refusing to open outlets and initiated disciplinary action serving show-cause notices to 1,729 employees.
The Prohibition and Excise Department has announced that the government is fast-tracking a tendering process to install Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) across all TASMAC outlets within the next 20 days to ease the pressure on workers.
The sudden closures have triggered panic-buying and massive queues at the few functional outlets across the state.
