At least 31 people have died and 20 others have been hospitalized in serious condition after allegedly drinking tainted liquor sold without authorization in eastern India, a senior elected official said on Thursday.
The deaths occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday and the victims belonged to three villages in Saran district of Bihar state where the production, sale and consumption of liquor is prohibited.
The deaths were reported at a district government-run hospital where the sick were taken to their families for treatment, said Dr. SD Sinha, the head of the hospital.
The sale and consumption of liquor was banned in Bihar state in 2016 after women’s groups campaigned against the working poor who spent their meager earnings on drink.
SCHOOLS IN SRI LANKA CLOSE DUE TO POOR AIR QUALITY
FILE – A doctor treats a victim, who had been consuming smuggled liquor, at a hospital in Jorhat, in India’s northeastern state of Assam, on Saturday, February 23, 2019.
(Fox News)
Police officer Santosh Kumar said many of the 20 hospitalized had lost their eyesight.
Several opposition parties, including the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, held protests in front of the state legislative building on Thursday to demand that the state liquor ban be lifted and monetary compensation be provided to bereaved families.
INDIAN AND CHINESE SOLDIERS CLASH IN DISPUTED BORDER REGION, BOTH FACE INJURIES REPORTED
In this April 30, 2021 file photo, healthcare workers tend to COVID-19 patients at a makeshift hospital in New Delhi, India.
(Fox News)
Sushil Modi, the state leader of the BJP, said more than 1,000 people have died after drinking tainted alcohol since the ban was imposed six years ago. The BJP is in opposition in the state.
Nitish Kumar, the top elected official of the state belonging to the socialist Janata Dal party, rejected their demands and said that the liquor ban “was not my personal wish, but a response to the cries of the women of the state”.
150 TIBETAN EXILES COMMUNICATE IN INDIA TO EXPRESS SOLIDARITY TO CHINESE PROTESTORS OF ‘ZERO COVID’ POLICY
Three people were detained for questioning for allegedly selling spiked alcohol in the area, he said. Saran district is located about 60 kilometers (40 mi) north of Patna, the state capital of Bihar.
Deaths from illegally produced alcohol are common in India, where illegal liquor is cheap and often spiked with chemicals such as pesticides to increase its potency. Illicit liquor has also become an extremely lucrative industry across India, where smugglers pay no taxes and sell huge quantities of their products to the poor at an affordable rate.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
At least 28 people died and 60 others fell ill from drinking tainted liquor in the western Indian state of Gujarat earlier this year. Gujarat is another Indian state where the production, sale and consumption of liquor is prohibited.
In 2020, at least 120 people died after drinking contaminated liquor in India’s northern Punjab state.
