Licence to swill: 250 Chennai bars have no permit

CHENNAI: Here’s proof that the appetizers served in Chennai’s liquor outlets could be just as unhygienic as the ‘bars’ they’re attached to are squalid.

Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corpn Ltd allows shady attachments to 250 of its 262 shops in the city — mostly small, grubby rooms or shacks equipped with makeshift tables and stools that pass off as bars — to operate without a mandatory Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence.

Food safety department officials confirmed that only 12 bars in Chennai have valid FSSAI licences. Employee union chiefs charge the state-run retail liquor monopoly with diluting conditions in its tenders to favour individuals looking to open these money-spinning bars.

“We usually refuse to issue licences to Tasmac bars because they don’t adhere to food safety norms,” a food safety official told TOI. “This includes a ban on cooking on the premises.”

Establishments that sell food and post an annual turnover of Rs 12 lakh annually must obtain licences from FSSAI. The food and standards regulator issues bars licences under the ‘food vending establishment’ category.

“The turnover of these bars is not less than Rs 12 lakh a year,” the official said. In the past year, complaints led to action against only four bars.

Tasmac made the FSSAI licence one of the 12 conditions to take part in bidding for bars.

Other conditions include GST ID number, structural stability of the building and no objection certificate from the landlord.

But Tamil Nadu Tasmac Employees Union president N Periyasamy alleged that 1,500 Tasmac outlets across the state have illegal bars.

“No bar follows the rule that it can only sell eatables prepared outside,” he said. “In fact, they commit all sorts of violations. The government should shut down all of them.” Tasmac’s income from bars dropped 50% after the Supreme Court order banning liquor vends within 500m of highways. It generated Rs 200 crore from bars in 2017-18, down from Rs 440 crore in the previous fiscal.

A Tasmac official said bar operators have applied for FSSAI licences. “The food safety department has asked them for a list of eatables they sell,” he said. “That caused considerable delay in obtaining licences.”