The death toll in the Etah hooch tragedy climbed to 39, after six more deaths were reported on Wednesday.
While 33 persons died in Etah’s Aligang area, six deaths were reported from the neighbouring district of Farukkhabad.
The incident, which triggered last weekend, has brought severe criticism for the Samajwadi Party government, which has launched a State-wide drive against spurious liquor.
A police campaign led to the arrest of 1,621 persons across the State accused of being engaged in spurious liquor trade. The police registered 1,585 cases, seized 36,121 litres of spurious liquor and recovered seven vehicles. During the campaign, 197 illegal liquor joints were shut down.
Many of the victims have lost their eyesight. The district administration has announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs. 2 lakh each. It would also bear the cost of treatment of those who lost their eyesight.
The police late on Saturday night nabbed main accused Shripal Lodh. The SP government has suspended many police and administrative officials, including the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Station House Officer, Circle Officer and District Excise Officer, for dereliction of duty.
The BJP has blamed Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for the lapse as the Excise department comes under him. The BSP said the incident reflected the “criminal negligence” and failure of the SP government. Ms. Ms. Mayawati said the incident was an example of “prevailing jungleraj” in the State, alleging sale of spurious liquor was rampant under the SP rule.
BJP spokesperson and State general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said a seven-member team of senior officer bearers has been constituted and will submit its report on the incident
