After seeing huge crowds in front of Tasmac shops in Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts on Thursday, the police have made umbrellas compulsory to ensure personal distancing among buyers.

While a queue system was followed in most places on Friday, police seized close to 250 bikes of motorists who came from Chennai to purchase liquor.

After the shops were closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown on March 24, the government recently announced that Tasmac outlets would be opened from May 7 across the State, except in Chennai and in containment zones.

Out of the 500-odd shops in Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts only around 100 shops were opened as the others were either in containment zones or on Chennai’s border. In Arani, three Tasmac shops were closed, after the Arani police station was closed for disinfection following a policeman testing positive for COVID-19.

However, a huge rush was witnessed outside most of the shops that were open and personal distancing went for a toss.

“Now people have to bring umbrellas to Tasmac shops to ensure personal distancing. This is being done in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. Besides, the Aadhar card will be checked and only then will people be allowed to purchase liquor. More tokens have been printed, based on the crowds seen on Thursday,” said a senior police officer.

Besides, additional counters will be opened in Tasmac shops in the three districts depending on the rush. “If the crowd is more than 2,000, three counters will be opened and two counters if the crowd is around 1,000. On Friday, the crowd was better managed. The problem in the districts is that there are fewer shops are high demand,” added the officer.

Protests by residents

Residents of Meyyur and Kelambakkam near Periyapalayam protested against people from other places coming to purchase alcohol from the Tasmac shop in their village.

“On Thursday many people from Chennai had come to Tiruvallur to purchase alcohol. The residents are frightened that they may be infected. Hence when the shop opened on Friday, the residents protested demanding that outsiders not be allowed. They were pacified, and the shops were reopened after an hour,” said a police source.