chennai the tamil nadu government on sunday permitted tea shops sweet shops and offices of construction companies to function from monday in 27 districts including chennai where new relaxations of lockdown norms come into effect following representations from various sections of people tea shops are permitted to function from 6am to 5pm from monday said chief minister mk stalin but tea shops can only offer parcel services and people are not permitted to stand near the shops and consume the brew with fresh relaxations announced on friday permitting opening of stateowned tasmac liquor outlets the states move came in for criticism from both political parties and the public social media was abuzz with people questioning the rationale behind opening tasmac outlets while keeping the tea shops shut political parties like the bjp and pmk have condemned the reopening of the liquor shops with the bjp organising protests on sundaywith hotels and bakeries already allowed to function the state government has now permitted shops selling sweets and savouries to open from 6am to 2pmwhile construction activities have already been permitted to be undertaken the offices of the construction firms had remained closed this impacted disbursement of salaries and making payments for purchasing construction materials hence from monday the offices of construction companies too can function with 50 employees the statement said these relaxations will not apply in 11 districts seven western and four in delta region which continue to report high covid numbers