Tasmac proposes to regularise services of 23000 workers in Chennai

The Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) has drafted a proposal to regularise the services of approximately 23,000 retail and depot employees in Chennai.

The comprehensive proposal, which also seeks to revise employee salaries and raise their retirement age to 60, is scheduled to be presented before the Tasmac board of directors on Monday.

This policy shift represents a major step by the state government to address long-standing labor issues and improve customer service. By improving the pay and service conditions of the workforce, the government aims to curb the widespread practice of overcharging customers at liquor outlets.

The Tasmac board of directors, which will review the proposal, is chaired by Prohibition and Excise Minister K Vignesh. The board also includes several high-ranking state officials, including the finance secretary, the commercial tax secretary, the home secretary, Tasmac’s managing director, and the prohibition commissioner, who all serve as directors.

If the board of directors grants its approval to the proposal during the Monday meeting, it will mark the end of a 23-year-long wait for permanent job status for Tasmac employees working across various retail outlets.

Sources indicated that the new TVK government is highly focused on putting an end to Maximum Retail Price (MRP) violations at the retail level. To achieve this, the administration decided to fulfill some of the most crucial demands of the workforce, chief among them being the regularisation of their jobs.

The proposal comes on the heels of other administrative initiatives designed to streamline shop operations. The government has recently taken steps to directly handle and streamline the payment of electricity bills and rent for all 4,000 shops in the state. Previously, retail workers frequently cited these unpaid utility bills and rental expenses as excuses to overcharge liquor buyers. By resolving these overhead issues and securing employee salaries, the corporation hopes to eliminate any pretexts for MRP violations.