12 Die in Bihar Hooch Tragedy, Villagers Block Highway With Bodies

Patna: In ‘dry’ Bihar, at least, 12 more people died after allegedly consuming illicit liquor in the Saran district in the last 24 hours. More than six others are battling for life in different hospitals and the toll is likely to rise.

Angry over the deaths of several people who consumed country-made liquor in Doila village, under Isuapur Police Station, and Yadu Mor, under Mashrak Police Station area, hundreds of angry locals placed the bodies on state highway No. 90 near Mashrak Hanuman Chowk for hours.

The protesting villagers blamed the police for the deaths and alleged that they have failed to act against liquor manufacturers and traders, which are doing business in broad daylight despite prohibition. The protesters also shouted slogans against the police and the state government and demanded stern action.

The BJP raised the issue in the state Assembly on the second day of the Winter Session with a heated exchange of words between chief minister Nitish Kumar and Opposition leader Vijay Kumar Sinha over the hooch tragedy. Kumar reportedly lost his temper in the House after BJP MLAs targeted him for the deaths. BJP MLAs Samrat Choudhary and Janak Singh said that a case of murder should be lodged against Kumar.

While the district administration is yet to confirm the hooch incidents, the police said that they are probing it and awaiting the post-mortem reports before reaching a conclusion. “A probe is under way in connection with the incidents,” Saran superintendent of police Santosh Kumar told Newsclick.

According to villagers and families of the deceased in Doila and Yadu Mor, the men consumed locally made liquor, popularly known as Mahua, or Desi Daru, in the village on Monday night. Most of them complained of uneasiness, stomach pain and weakness and started vomiting on Tuesday morning. Their condition deteriorated by afternoon and three of them died on the way to the hospital at night, two during treatment and another seven on Wednesday.

“Prohibition is an easy opportunity for the local police to earn extra money. They are fully aware of the flourishing trade of country-made liquor in their villages and neighbouring areas,” alleged villager Hariom Rai. “Liquor manufacturers and traders are doing business freely but the police hardly take action despite receiving complaints,” he told Newsclick.

Another villager Satish Kumar Singh said that if the “police had enforced prohibition in the village and acted against liquor manufacturers and traders, the tragedy could have been averted”. “This is not the first hooch tragedy in Saran. Eleven villagers died after consuming illicit liquor in August and six more early this year.”

Both Rai and Singh alleged that cheap local liquor is easily available in the village and people openly drink on the streets and in fields.

In more than seven years, one hooch tragedy after another has been reported in the state despite the ban on manufacturing, storage, transportation, sale and consumption of alcohol since April 2016.

Despite the much-hyped use of drones, copters and motorboats by the Kumar-led government to curb the illegal manufacturing and smuggling of liquor in Bihar, hundreds of deaths have been reported in the last three years.

Illicit liquor claimed 95 lives in the state last year, prompting the then-ruling ally BJP to question how manufacturers and traders are freely doing business despite the state government’s claim of the police ensuring prohibition. More than 100 people have died in about 12 hooch tragedies this year.

Earlier this month, the state Cabinet approved a proposal for Rs 1 lakh financial assistance to poor families involved in the liquor trade to ensure the success of prohibition.

Despite Kumar and his Cabinet colleagues claiming that prohibition has been 100% successful, reports of liquor traders and manufacturers attacking police teams have increased and hundreds of litres of liquor are seized every month.