Chennai: The sale of liquor through the state-owned Tamilnadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) crossed the Rs 440 crore mark for theĀ second successive year during the Deepavali festival this year.
TASMAC officials said today that while Rs 214.6Ā crore of liquor was sold on the Deepavali-eve on NovemberĀ three, yesterday it went up to Rs 229.42 crore, taking the total sales during the last two days to Rs 444.03 crore.
However, it was Rs 23.66 crore less when compared to the two-day totalĀ sales of Rs 467.69 crore last year.
Among the major districts, Madurai topped the sales with Rs 47.21 crore, onĀ November three followed by Salem Rs 44.27 crore, Trichy Rs 43.38 crore,Ā Coimbatore Rs 41.75 crore and Chennai Rs 38 crore.
Yesterday too Madurai topped the sales with Rs 51.68 crore, followed byĀ Trichy Rs 47.57 crore, Salem Rs 46.62 crore, Chennai Rs 41.84 crore andĀ Coimbatore Rs 41.71 crore.
It may be recalled that Tamilnadu Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise V Senthilbalaji, during the demand for grants for his department inĀ the State Legislative Assembly in September, announced that the sale of
liquor through TASMAC, which stood at Rs 33,133.24 crore in 2019-20, had marginally increased to Rs 33,811.14 crores in 2020-21.
Percentage wise the sales margin might be slightly lower when compared to previous years, as the sale of liquor through 5,402 Retail Vending ShopsĀ in 38 districts, was one of the major revenue earners for the state
government for funding its various welfare schemes.
On an average, the daily sales will be in the range of about Rs 90 crore toĀ Rs 95 crore and it would cross the Rs 100 crore mark during weekends andĀ Rs 200 crore mark during festival seasons like, New Year, Pongal and
Deepavali.
Ever since the TASMAC has been granted the exclusive privilege of Retail Vending of Indian Made Foreign Spirits under Section 17-C(1-B )(a) of theĀ Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937 (Tamil Nadu Act X of 1937), from 29 November, 2003 by the then AIADMK government headed by Ms J Jayalaltihaa, there has been a significant increase in liquor sales in the state with every passing year, amid various political parties wanted implementation of total prohibition in the State, a demand which would gain momentum especially at the time of elections.
From Rs 3,639.93 crore in 2003-2004, the sales crossed the Rs 5,000 crore mark in 2005-06 to Rs 6,030.77 crore and went past the Rs 10,000 crore mark in 2008-09 to Rs 10,601.50 crore.
In the last ten years, the sales went up from close to Rs 15,000 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 21,680.67 crore in 2012-13, breached the Rs 25,000 croreĀ barrier in 2015-16 at Rs 25,845.58 crore.
In the last five years, the revenue earned through liquor sales stood at Rs 26,995.25 crore, Rs 26,797.96 crore, Rs 31,157.83 crore, Rs 33,133.24 crore and Rs 33,811.14 crore in 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively.
Senthilbalaji said with the primary objective of preventing loss of human life by eradicating illicit, sub-standard liquor and curbing saleĀ of non-duty paid liquor, the DMK government will effectively implementĀ the Prohibition and Excise Policy.