CHENNAI: Prohibition and Excise Minister K Vignesh said the government would focus on curbing alcohol consumption by educating people about its harmful effects, calling the annual declaration of high festival liquor sales a matter of shame rather than achievement.

Responding to questions on Deepavali liquor sales, the minister questioned why high sales figures were projected as a major achievement every year. He said the government would use psychological interventions and awareness campaigns to discourage alcohol consumption.

Vignesh also said the government intended to establish de-addiction centres in all 234 Assembly constituencies, rather than limiting them to select locations, as part of its efforts to address substance abuse.

On the bottle buy-back scheme introduced on November 1, the Minister said only around 53–54% of bottles had been returned so far. Acknowledging confusion at some older Tasmac outlets, he said the issues would be resolved soon.

"The same QR-code system had been used for bottle returns even before November 1, except in Chennai, but somehow suddenly it had stopped functioning after the scheme was formally introduced," the minister said, alleging that some shops had resorted to collecting payments through personal QR codes.