Public petition against Tasmac shops

TRICHY: Two petitions against Tasmac wine shops were submitted at the district collectorate in the grievance redressal day meeting here on Monday.
A group of people from Naagamanaikkanpatti demanded that the Tasmac run wine shop in the nearby village of Senappanallur be shifted elsewhere. They complained that a 10-member gang of thugs led by M Murali and P Ramesh from Senappanallur in Trichy resided near the wine shop and indulged in threatening and assaulting the public to rob valuables.Moreover, female school students studying in a government school in Senappanallur were subjected to eve-teasing every time they passed the area. On October 5, the gang attacked V Rangaraj, an ex-serviceman, with lethal weapons at his residence in Naagamanaikkanpatti and threatened him with dire consequences.
K Ganesan a resident from Naagamanaikkanpatti said “Our children have to pass Senappanallur on their way to school daily. The atrocities of the thugs residing near the Tasmac wine shop cannot be tolerated. They are always under the influence of alcohol and cause a lot of inconvenience to us. This problem has been continuing for the past one year. So, we demand the collector to order to shift the wine shop so that the thugs also move elsewhere.”
When TOI contacted TASMAC Trichy district manager (DM) Iyyappan, he said, “I have not received the petition in this regard so far. Moreover, the issue has to be dealt by the police. Sometimes, such protests are sponsored by some influential people for their vested interests.”
Likewise, R Thesima Begum from Babu Road in Trichy demanded to retrieve her building from a certain Azhagappan, who she claimed had encroached her building for running a bar attached to the TASMAC wine shop in East Boulevard Road in the city. In her petition to the collector she stated that her husband Rahmathulla owed Rs 5 lakh to Azhagappan from East Boulevard Road. So, her husband leased out their building to Azhagappan for one year to run a hotel in return for the money he owed him. Meanwhile, Rahamathullah paid Rs 3 lakh to him to clear the debt.
After one year when Rahmathullah asked him to vacate the building, Azhagappan turned hostile and refused to do so. Moreover, he converted the hotel into a bar. He threatened the couple with dire consequences whenever the couple approached the police to intervene into the problem. Moreover, Azhagappan had not obtained a no objection certificate (NOC) from the owner of the building to run a bar. Since the bar is situated in a residential area, the boozers caused inconvenience to the residents. So, she pleaded before the collector to take action.
However, Tasmac DM Iyyappan told TOI, “We would not have allowed the running of the bar if the NOC was not obtained. But the license of the bar should be renewed every year. So, we will look into the matter.”