Chennai: It may sound incredulous but the Tasmac shops dotting Tamil Nadu may soon go cashless and only have swipe machines for the customers to transact their purchases. While most of the tipplers crowding the booze shop counters are unlikely to have debit/credit cards for swiping and would surely prefer paying in cash for their 'quarters and halfs', both the Tasmac management and its workers' unions have been quietly and vigorously pursuing the cashless route.
“Swipe machines in place of cash counters will definitely bring down corruption and malpractices, improve our revenues”, said a senior Tasmac official requesting anonymity. “We will begin the tender process next month for identifying the banks to undertake the (swipe machines) transactions for our shops. Tasmac has seven banks handling its accounts. Whoever offers us the lowest rate will be chosen for this big task”, he told DC.
Replacing the cash counters with swipe machines was one of the big demands in the list presented to managing director Kirlosh Kumar when senior representatives of the tasmac employees union (AITUC) met him with a memorandum on Tuesday. “We have been demanding for long that swipe machines should replace the cash counters in the tasmac shops so as to eliminate corruption and theft. The MD assured us necessary action is being taken”, said union general secretary D. Dhanasekaran.
Asked how swipe machines can handle the huge volume of tipplers buying small quantities - quarters and halfs - for which cash transactions might be quicker and smoother, Dhanasekaran said, “True, we have many customers from the bottom rung of society, such as daily wagers, and they may not have credit/debit cards for swiping. Now they may be forced to either get their cards or turn to brokers selling liquor for cash at a premium. In this way, he will end up spending more money and drinking less. Also, he will cut down on drinking because he can no longer hide his booze sessions from the family by buying in cash; all his transactions will be reflected in the bank statements. You can take this as the first step towards prohibition”.The Tasmac workers' leader also said the other demands placed before the MD included installing of CCTV cameras at the liquor shops, increasing security for the staff and minimum wage of Rs 18,000.
