Saran (Bihar): Bihar, a dry state on paper, has seen as many as 16 deaths in alleged hooch tragedies in a week, once again exposing the state's inability to curb the menace of spurious liquor trade.
All the deaths have taken place in Saran district. Six people, as per the details available with ETV Bharat, are in a critical state as the entire district is in a state of shock. Among the 16 fatalities, the most recent happened in Marhaura town of the district where three persons died allegedly after consuming spurious liquor.
While the administration has been relatively tight-lipped over the grave matter, sources say that production and sale of illicit alcohol was going on unabated to the extent that cough syrups were openly mixed in raw spirit.
The 16 dead so far, according to details compiled by ETV Bharat, include Jawahar Mahato, Rajesh Sharma, Munna Singh, and Bhulan Manjhi -- all residents of Marhaura town; Banai Singh, Virendra Thakur, Sampat Mahto, Krishna Mahato, Ramnath Rai, Mohammad Isa, and Mithilesh Singh -- all from Amnore constituency in the district; and Brij Bihari Rai of Nandan, Bharat Rai of Naukra, Anil Mistry of Siwan, Sukhal Mahto of Sutihar, and Dhanejar Rai of Nawada.
On Thursday, district magistrate Saran, Rajesh Meena had said in a press conference that even death due to alcohol cannot be ruled out in the incident even as the relatives of those who have died claim recovering bottles of spurious liquor from their homes. Surprisingly, the post-mortem reports, so far, have not clearly mentioned the cause of death. Earlier, the district administration had attributed the deaths to cold, a claim they are now trying to brush under the carpet.
Following the deaths, the SP concerned suspended the SHO of Maker town and also carried out multiple raids in the area recovering a large quantity of illicit liquor. During the raids, the police were stunned to see that liquor was being made by mixing cough syrup in raw spirit and openly sold to the public.
The opposition has slammed the government for failing to curb the spurious liquor trade. On Friday, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan said the party has written to Bihar governor Phagu Chauhan to recommend the president’s rule in the state to prevent deaths due to consumption of spurious liquor.
The 16 deaths come less than a week after 11 people died in Nalanda, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's home district, after consuming spurious liquor. Earlier, around Deepawali, hooch had claimed more than 40 lives in West Champaran, Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur districts.
Sale and consumption of alcohol was completely banned in Bihar in April 2016, a year after Kumar promised the same to the state's women. Implementation of the same by his government has, however, been an object of criticism by the opposition and, sometimes, by the judiciary.
Read: Bihar: 38,72,645 litres of illicit liquor confiscated, 62,140 arrested in last 9 month
