Chennai, Jun 8 (IANS): Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac), which is the state government body engaged in the sale of liquor, is planning an extensive crackdown on employees following complaints that they were charging extra money above the bill amount per bottle of liquor.

Sources in Tasmac told IANS that several people from various corners of the state have been complaining against the Tasmac salesmen charging Rs 5 to 10 per bottle above the MRP when they buy liquor bottles.

On Tuesday, Tasmac transferred a salesman from its outlet in Nachiyapuram in Tenkasi for charging Rs 5 extra from a customer. The customer had directly complained to the Tasmac manager that he was forced to shell out Rs 5 extra for a quarter bottle of Vodka. The salesman, according to the complainant, forcefully collected Rs 5 extra above the MRP.

The customer, S. Vijayakumar in his complaint before the district authorities of Tasmac, said that the salesman had forcefully taken Rs 5 extra money.

In the financial year 2022-23, Tasmac touched a revenue of Rs 44,098.56 crore while in 2021-22 the sale was only Rs 36,050.65 crore.

Tasmac has 5,329 outlets across the state and has commenced a crackdown on the sales people who are engaged in collecting extra money from consumers.

Sources in Tasmac told IANS that this has been the practice among certain employees of the agency for quite a few years now and after receiving several complaints, the Tasmac has commenced the crackdown.