After the Gopalganj and West Champaran hooch tragedy , in which over 30 people died in the last four days in Bihar, four more people died in Samastipur district late on Friday evening due to suspected spurious liquor consumption. Some of them are admitted to hospitals in serious condition.
Officials said the deaths occurred in the Rupauli Panchayat in Patori block and their cause could be known only after the post-mortem reports. Five have been admitted to different hospitals in serious condition.
The victims consumed spurious liquor a day after Diwali and their condition deteriorated on Friday evening, villagers stated. “Four of them died, while five are admitted in different hospitals”, observed one of them, not wishing to reveal the identity.
The dead are Shyam Nandan Chaudhury, Birendra Rai, Mohan Kumar and Vinay Singh. Mohan Kumar, 27, was in the armed forces, while Vinay Singh, 54, was said to working in the Border Security Force (BSF).
Those admitted to hospital are Abhilakh Rai, Benga Rai, Suman Kumar, Deepak Kumar and Kundan Kumar.
After a function
“They are said to have attended a function in the village, after which they fell ill”, a villager remarked.
Senior police officer Om Prakash Arun told reporters, “It is only after the post-mortem reports come, the cause of their deaths can be ascertained”.
The death toll in the Gopalganj hooch tragedy has gone up to 13, while in West Champaran, 16 deaths have been confirmed by local officials. Five-six others are still in a government hospital in Bettiah town, district headquarters of West Champaran.
The local administration has launched a crackdown on liquor mafias and arrested some in Gopalganj district.
When asked about the deaths, ruling party JD(U) president Rajeev Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh on Saturday told media persons, “provision for murder in law is sentenced to death but still people kill others…there is prohibition in the State and those who will violate prohibition rules will be punished but prohibition will continue in the State”.
CM’s directive
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday declared he would review on November 16 the deaths after the four-day Chhath (sun god) festival. He asked officials to monitor the prohibition laws every alternate day.
Earlier, after Holi, as many as 16 people died in West Champaran in July.
“During festivals like Holi, Diwali and Chhath, migrant labourers come to their native places in Bihar in large numbers. They might be indulging in booze with their saved money and become victims of spurious liquor”, social activist Mahendra Yadav pointed out. “Look at those who are dying, all come from poor families and the extremely backward classes. This is extremely sad and must be condemnable”.
Senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari told The Hindu, “The social profile of those who died due to spurious liquor in the dry Bihar must be brought out by some organisations to wake up the government headed by Mr. Kumar”.
Prohibition has failed: BJP leader
President of the ruling alliance partner BJP Sanjay Jaiswal commented, “Prohibition in the State has failed and there is need to review it with all its success and failure after over five years”.
Addressing media persons at the party headquarters in Patna, he stated that “the police at the local level have nexus with liquor mafias and people are getting liquor easily”. “Incidents of hooch tragedy are happening only in those districts where police are more vigilant and tough and do not have any truck with liquor mafias,” he added.
