Chennai, Nov 5 (UNI) The sale of liquor through the state-owned Tamil Nadu

State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) crossed the Rs 440 crore mark for

the second successive year during the diwali festival this year.

TASMAC officials said today that while Rs 214.61 crore of liquor was sold on

the Diwali-eve on November 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 total sales

of Rs 467.69 crore last year.

Among the major districts, Madurai topped the sales with Rs 47.21 crore, on

November three followed by Salem Rs 44.27 crore, Trichy Rs 43.38 crore,

Coimbatore Rs 41.75 crore and Chennai Rs 38 crore.

Yesterday too Madurai topped the sales with Rs 51.68 crore, followed by

Trichy Rs 47.57 crore, Salem Rs 46.62 crore, Chennai Rs 41.84 crore and

Coimbatore Rs 41.71 crore.

It may be recalled that Tamil Nadu Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and

Excise V Senthilbalaji, during the demand for grants for his department in

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 Shops

in 38 districts, was one of the major revenue earners for the state government

for funding its various welfare schemes.

MORE UNI GV 1155/1200