Celebrating the birth of a baby with locally-brewed liquor at a tea estate three days ago has so far left 143 people, including 45 women, dead in eastern Assam’s Golaghat and Jorhat districts.
Tragedy had first struck the Halmira Tea Estate on Thursday night when plantation workers gathered at the house of a tea plucker to celebrate the birth of a baby. The “poisonous” liquor, which officials said could have been sourced from the same illegal brewer, soon felled people in the adjoining Jugibari and Goronga villages and at the Borhola Tea Estate in the adjoining Jorhat district.
“Thankfully, the last death was reported on Sunday morning and fewer people are being admitted. So far, 85 people have died and 31 of them are women while 160 are under treatment,” Golaghat Deputy Commissioner Dhiren Hazarika said.
His Jorhat counterpart Roshni Aparanji Korathi said the death toll touched 58 in her district with 15 of the victims being women.
Excise officials said more than 100 cases have been registered after a crackdown on bootleggers and illicit brewers across Assam. They have arrested 20 people, 12 of them in Golaghat and Jorhat districts.
Two forensic scientists, Abhijit Gogoi and Rupam Lachit, who collected samples of the killer liquor from the sites in the two districts, said they would find the cause of death by Monday evening.
Former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi visited survivors of the liquor tragedy in Borhola.
