Tasmac?employees protest 2.5% licence fee

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Tasmac bar owners and workers welfare association members thronged the Tasmac he­adquarters in Egmo­re on Thursday, demanding withdrawal of the system of collecting lice­nse fee of 2.5 per cent of the income generated at the liquor outlet on the fifth of every mon­th, based on the projected sale figure of the month and not on the actual sales.

Nearly 100 members of the association including its president Anbarasan and secretary Balamuru­gan reached the Tasmac office to press their demand.

Talking to this newspaper, Balamurugan said that bar owners were supposed to pay 2.5 per cent of the projected sales figure of the liquor shop before the fifth of every month. “If we fail to pay on the date, they charge interest on it.

We have already deposited two months of fee as advance and they have been also collecting 2.5 per cent of the projected sale figure of the wine shop before the fifth of every month. We want Tasmac to abolish this practice,” he said.

He also noted that bar owners should be officially allowed to run a kitchen  in the bar. When the wine shop is closed at 10 pm, bars should be allowed to function till 10.30 pm so that customers get at least 30 minutes to finish their drink, he said. The association members met the joint managing director of Tasmac and submitted their demands to him.