Trace easy ‘App’roach route to TASMAC shops

The restriction has given birth to some creative ideas to get around the court verdict. Take for instance the case of a bar in Ernakulam, whose owners constructed a maze to ensure that patrons walk 500 metres to reach the premises. 

Many people also turned to technology to get past the SC ban. “After the ban, I immediately went online to search for apps that could help me locate places where alcohol is available and found three applications that were outdated. I wrote to the developers asking them to renew the list as soon as possible,” says Santhosh K, an IT employee, who isn’t very happy to be an OMR resident. Apps like Easy TASMAC, TASMAC locator and MyNear Bar help to locate the nearest outlet. However, most of them are not updated and the reviews for them are not very appealing. 

Now, after the ban, the app developers are all set for version 2.0. “I have been getting several enquiries on social media about an update to the app,” says Ragesh Ramesh, who launched Easy TASMAC in 2014. “I plan to update the app by the end of April. I have been crowd-sourcing the information about open TASMACs through social media and from friends living in the state. I have started collecting data and hope to update the app by the end of this month given the volume of inquiries,” he further adds. Ragesh claimed that he had developed the app after friends, especially from other cities, discussed the difficulties they faced while looking for an TASMAC outlet.