Chennai: After two days of stalemate, the contract staffers of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Ltd (Tasmac) returned to duty and opened liquor retail outlets on Saturday, but prohibition and excise minister K Vignesh has warned of action as per rules for protest.Salesmen and supervisors closed 200 liquor shops in Kancheepuram and Chengalpet districts on Thursday after Tasmac started suspending workers on charges of MRP violation and the protest spread to other districts on Friday, covering more than 500 shops.Minister Vignesh on Saturday blamed the previous govts for the sorry state of affairs in Tasmac. “If they had attempted to reform the system, this situation would not have arisen,” he said.Most protesters returned to duty, he said and warned of severe action as per rules against those not reporting to work.Protesters demanded that Tasmac sanction additional funds to bear the cost of empty liquor bottle collection, as additional manpower and other exigencies were required.The empty liquor bottle collection scheme was implemented across TN in a phased manner, except Chennai and a few other districts. Though TVK govt has floated tenders to outsource the empty liquor bottle collection and is likely to finalise a bidder by this month, Tasmac workers suddenly jumped into protest, citing additional work burden.Tasmac officials said show-cause notices were issued to all protesting workers for each day they didn’t report to work. “We have asked them to manage empty bottle collection till the tender is finalised. The surprise checks for MRP violations also continue,” said the official.Meanwhile, the joint action committee of Tasmac workers has decided to postpone the protest for 10 days as it is dubbed as a reaction to suspension action against MRP violation.“We are for MRP sales. But the bottle collection tender is likely to be extended to all districts only in a phased manner. It is impossible to manage empty bottle collection till such times,” said the committee in a statement.
