In July the Tamil Nadu government announced the closure of 500 liquor shops. Tamil Nadu’s for Prohibition and Excise, S Muthusamy, said that the government was considering plans for the sale of liquor in tetra packs, citing environmental and cleanliness benefits. A picture of this has gone viral on social media now but the minister had said this in July 2023. The minister had said, “Bottles get broken and damaged sometimes. This can be avoided if tetra packs are introduced. Empty liquor bottles thrown on farmlands or roadsides damage the environment.” The minister also highlighted concerns regarding the improper cleaning of reusable liquor bottles and expressed hope that tetra packs would eliminate such issues. He also claimed that tetra packs “cannot be adulterated”, and argued that they were “easy to handle”. An official team has been set up to study the feasibility of this initiative, Muthusamy said. The minister stressed that the move was only in the early stages of consideration and that it would be implemented only after a comprehensive evaluation. However, the proposal to introduce the sale of liquor in tetra packs has been met with stern opposition, mainly from the PMK president and former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss. “Minors and students might mistake the liquor tetra packs for other beverages, such as milkshakes and other juices that are similarly packaged. Adults will not be able to check its proliferation among kids and students,” Ramadoss said. He also challenged the idea that tetra packs could be a solution to adulteration of bottled liquor. Ramadoss, in a statement, said the proposal was “truly alarming” and that the reasoning behind it was “absurd”. Warning that the sale of liquor in tetra packs could potentially encourage misuse and underage consumption, Ramadoss expressed disappointment in minister Muthusamy, “a seasoned politician” who he had “hoped would lead Tamil Nadu towards prohibition”, was coming out with such ideas.

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