New Delhi: Following the death of the eight people in a hooch tragedy, Jan Adhikar Party chief Pappu Yadav on Thursday alleged the Nitish-led government has been running a nexus of illegal liquor trade to generate revenue for the state.
Yadav, in an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, said that at least 50 to 70 people die every month after consuming low-grade-liquor and the government officials are forced to cover the exact death toll.
"Bihar had banned the sale of liquor in 2016. Despite that 50 to 70 people die every month. Now, a special man has been assigned to deliver liquor directly to the home. Unofficially, it generates Rs. 50 crores of trade. So, how is it possible to run this kind of nexus without taking help from higher authorities," Yadav questioned.
He further alleged that the government is running a parallel economy in order to generate funding for the elections.
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"There are four illegal sources of funding for a government. If the major source of the revenue got blocked, the government look for other alternatives. That is the reason the illegal liquor trade has been expanding since the government banned the sale of it," added Yadav.
Bodies cremated without post-mortem
At least eight persons died in two separate incidents in Bihar -- six in Nawada and two in Begusarai -- after they reportedly consumed spurious liquor in the last 24 hours.
The family members of the deceased claimed that they consumed liquor on the day Holi on Monday, after which their health conditions deteriorated by the night. Surprisingly, the family members cremated the bodies before post-mortem could be conducted.
The Nitish Kumar government had banned the sale and consumption of liquor in Bihar in April 2016. Despite that, several cases of deaths caused by the consumption of spurious liquor have been reported from different parts of the state over the past few years.
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