NEW DELHI: A hooch tragedy taking the lives of 8 people in West Champaran district of dry Bihar on Thursday marred the festivity of Deepawali. This was the second such hooch tragedy reported in the last 2 days in the state.
So far in the last 2 days, 17 people had died after consuming spurious liquor in Bihar’s Gopalganj and West Champaran districts. As per the reports received here from Bihar, 9 people had lost their lives on Wednesday after consuming spurious liquor late on Tuesday night at Mohammadpur village in Gopalganj district.
A day after that hooch tragedy, eight more people-all aged between 25 and 50 years, have reportedly lost their lives on the day of Deepawali, allegedly after consuming spurious liquor at Tulhua village under Nautan block in West Champaran. West Champaran is the neighbouring district of Gopalganj and some of its parts share with the Nepal border also.
Confirming the deaths of 8 persons due to consuming spurious liquor, DM of West Champaran Kundan Kumar said that actions have been taken to arrest the liquor peddlers and suppliers from across the areas on war footing and 4 persons have been detained by police for interrogation into the liquor-related deaths case.
Meanwhile, police sources said that around 14 other people, who have consumed the spurious liquor, are going are under medical treatment in Gopalganj and West Champaran districts from Wednesday to Thursday. This was the fifth hooch tragedy in dry Bihar reported in the last few months. On July 16 in same West Champaran district, 16 people had died suspectedly after gulping spurious liquor.
On October 28 and 29, 8 people had died in the same circumstances after they allegedly drank spurious liquor in Muzaffarpur district. In the same way, 4 persons had died after consuming spurious liquor in Siwan on October 24.
In fact, the Nitish Kumar-led government has brought the Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act into effect in Bihar with effect from April 5 in 2016. The state completed the five of years of prohibition on April 5 this year with a claim of lodging more than 2,22,015 cases of violation of prohibitions and record arrests of 2,79,360 till that day.
Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav- RJD leader of opposition in the state legislative assembly alleged that the state government has failed to check the sale and supply of spurious liquor in dry state. “The police are disposing off the bodies of hooch tragedy deceased without the post-mortem of the bodies. Is not Nitish Kumar-the CM–cum –Home minister, who is making tall claims on prohibitions, responsible for these deaths”, Tejashwi Yadav said.
Yadav further alleged that a parallel black economy of 20,000 crore of illegal smuggling of liquor in Bihar after the imposition of a total prohibition, runs in the state.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad also on Thursday accused the state government of being insensitive towards the deaths occurred due to spurious liquor. “ In the last few weeks, more than 50 people had died after consuming spurious liquor but CM Nitish Kumar does not speak even a word of condolence over the deaths”, Lalu Prasad alleged after the deaths of 8 in West Champaran on Thursday.