Excise Minister appeals to striking TASMAC workers to return to duty after HC order on bottle return scheme

Hon'ble Minister for Prohibition and Excise Thiru K. Vigneshwar appeals to TASMAC staff to return to duty. As per the orders of the Hon'ble Madras High Court, the scheme to collect back used empty liquor bottles was launched as a pilot in the Nilgiris district in May 2022, and has since been progressively extended to all districts of Tamil Nadu except Chennai, Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar. Staff have previously raised complaints that there are various practical difficulties in implementing this scheme. Foregrounding their principal demand that used empty liquor bottles be collected through an external agency, most shops in Erode, Salem, Namakkal, Tiruppur, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts did not open today. Even though the Managing Director met all union representatives in person and assured them that all their demands would be addressed as soon as possible, the shops were not opened. The Hon'ble Madras High Court, in its directions for implementing this scheme, has stated that staff bear as much responsibility as the TASMAC administration, and that staff must extend their full cooperation for its implementation. In view of this, in response to staff demands, a scheme to collect back empty liquor bottles through an external agency will be formulated immediately, an affidavit will be filed in the High Court, and by the end of June, staff demands will be fully met, with the scheme designed to entirely do away with the current practice under which staff handle the used empty bottles themselves. Therefore, all staff are requested to respect the High Court's ruling, place their trust in the scheme proposed by the administration to protect staff welfare, and resume duty as usual from tomorrow. Issued by: Director, Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Chennai-9