By Shilpa Nair, Pramod Madhav: The Tamil Nadu government has introduced a special licence to facilitate serving of liquor on commercial premises like marriage halls, banquet halls and sports stadiums, and households hosting parties. But it sparked a controversy with opposition parties slamming the move as “anti-people” and said it would fuel crime.
The state government amended the Tamil Nadu Liquor (Licence and Permit) Rules, 1981, to facilitate possession and serving of liquor on commercial premises and non-commercial premises.
Tamil Nadu opposition leader and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said people of the state would soon teach a lesson to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government, which “continues to engage in such anti-people activities that disturb public peace and increase crime”.
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader K Balu has decided to challenge the notification in court. BJP state chief K Annamalai has demanded that the government withdraw the controversial order.
In a series of tweets, Annamalai condemned the new policy and accused the DMK of setting a higher criteria to increase the sale of liquor in the state every year, though DMK came to power promising to close down liquor companies.
“When law and order is becoming a challenge, just to increase the revenue for liquor companies run by DMK, the DMK government is indulging in activities which will lead to social disorder,” Annamalai charged.
Likewise, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) chief TTV Dhinakaran warned of massive protests by his party if the government failed to withdraw the order granting special liquor licence immediately.
Facing backlash, the Tamil Nadu Prohibition and Excise Minister clarified that serving of alcohol will not be allowed in marriage halls. V Senthil Balaji said liquor consumption is only permitted in events such as the IPL and liquor will not be served in banquet halls.
The above news was originally posted on news.google.com
