Chennai, Jun 21 (IANS): Tamil Nadu government-controlled cooperative, Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC), will shutdown 500 outlets starting from June 22.

TASMAC in a statement on Wednesday said that it has identified 500 outlets in the state and would start to shutdown the outlets from Thursday (June 22) onwards on the basis of the government order issued on April 20, 2023.

Pertinently, the Tamil Nadu government had issued an order on April 20, 2023 saying, "The government would shutdown 500 TASMAC liquor outlets in the state."

TASMAC, which is the monopoly body for selling liquor in the state, has presently 5329 liquor outlets in Tamil Nadu.

DMK had promised the voters during the election campaign that the party it would move ahead step-by-step for liquor prohibition in the state.

The arrested minister Senthil Balaji who was then the minister for Excise in Tamil Nadu government had during the last assembly session also promised on the floor of the house that the state government would shutdown 500 TASMAC outlets.