Bottle Buyback Scheme Row: Coimbatore TASMAC Employees Shut Outlet; Frustrated Consumers Stage Road Blockade

Coimbatore: Several TASMAC outlets across Tamil Nadu remained closed on Sunday as employees staged protests alleging of additional workload arising from the new empty liquor bottle collection scheme, which is scheduled to come into effect on November 1.

In Coimbatore's Masakkalipalayam, frustrated consumers reacted to the closure of a TASMAC outlet by staging a road blockade and demanding that the shop be opened.

Under the new system, the maximum retail price (MRP) of all liquor varieties in Tamil Nadu will increase by ₹10 from November 1, with an environment cess added to the existing price. Consumers will, however, be eligible for a refund of the additional amount when they return their empty liquor bottles at TASMAC outlets.

As the revised MRP will already include the ₹10 cess, outlet staff will not be permitted to collect any amount exceeding the displayed price. Instead, they will be required to accept empty bottles and refund ₹10 to consumers who return them.

Employees have opposed the short notice given for implementing the scheme, arguing that the announced reimbursement would not be sufficient to meet the additional workload and address the practical difficulties involved in its implementation.

They have also questioned the decision to make outlet staff responsible for collecting and storing empty bottles before handing them over to approved vendors. The employees maintained that the scheme could have been introduced after finalising a reverse vendor through the tender process, which would have reduced the burden on outlet staff.

The TASMAC employees' association has also raised concerns over the financial and operational implications of the arrangement, including the expenses involved in deploying additional manpower and securing storage space for the collected bottles.

At Masakkalipalayam, several consumers who had been waiting for the outlet to open staged a road blockade, with some sitting and others lying in the middle of the road while demanding its immediate reopening.

Videos showing the protest following the outlet's closure have since circulated on social media.