CHENNAI: A city-based IT professional has launched a public reporting platform to crowdsource complaints of alleged overcharging at Tasmac outlets across the state, a long-standing public grievance of 'overcharging' that remains unresolved.
The platform, titled "TASMAC Scam Watch" (https://tasmac-scam.vercel.app/), allows users to submit complaints against specific Tasmac shops by selecting the district, area and shop number, and entering the amount allegedly collected above the printed MRP. Users can also upload photographs of bottles, payment screenshots, bills and videos as proof.
"When I published this over the last two days, I realised many other people are also working on similar applications," said Deepak Sivakumar, an IT professional who said the initiative was aimed at documenting and exposing repeat instances of overcharging.
"The intention is to reduce the scams. That's it," Deepak told DT Next.
The website also features a dashboard intended to map complaint patterns district-wise, and he clarified that dashboard entries are currently mock data as the system remains in its early stages.
The site has gained rapid traction within hours of launch, with nearly 2,500 active users and nearly 7,900 page views on Monday, with close to 19,000 recorded interactions on the platform. "I only started collecting data this morning, and there are already about 30 to 40 entries," he said.
The platform additionally appears to be developing Tamil-language interfaces aimed at improving accessibility. He has also been working on a separate public-interest platform focused on grievances in government hospitals.
According to him, the government hospital initiative was designed to document recurring complaints such as lack of beds, medicines and diagnostic access despite large public expenditure on healthcare infrastructure.
The launch comes amid continuing public complaints over Tasmac outlets allegedly collecting money above MRP without issuing bills, an issue that has periodically drawn criticism from consumers, activists and political parties in Tamil Nadu.