61 deaths, over 150 admitted in hospitals
By PrashantNews Reporter
Chennai:
In one of the worst hooch tragedies in recent memory, nearly 61 people have died after consuming spurious liquor in Kallakurichi district, 250 km from the capital Chennai, in Tamil Nadu.
Besides 61 deaths, over 150 people are admitted in various hospitals in the state.
The dreadful incident has, however, failed to hit top headlines in the media at least at the national level.
The incident happened a week ago owing to an alleged strong nexus between the manufacturers of illicit liquor, police and the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the State. On the other hand, the DMK has blamed the opposition BJP and AIADMK for the sale of the illicit arrack in the state.
Surprisingly few years ago, the media and political parties have raised a lot of hue and cry when a similar hooch tragedy occurred in Uttarakhand in 2019.
In yet another similar spurious liquor tragedy in Gujarat in 2022, the opposition and the national media have virtually pilloried the state government on the issue.
The regrettable aspect of the illegal liquor tragedy is that there is no prohibition in Tamil Nadu, though arrack (country liquor) or toddy (derived from palm trees) are not available.
The Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) runs liquor shops from where people can buy their drink. An ordinary quarter bottle of liquor costs Rs 140 with State’s taxes making up 58 per cent or Rs 81.5/bottle.
At the same time, the illegal liquor costs Rs 60/quarter. One of the victims, who has vowed never to touch liquor again, said the low price of the illegal liquor had lured him.
Apart from the deaths due to illegal liquor, the other issue that has enraged the people is the compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of the deceased.
Naam Tamizhar Katchi (We are Tamils party) chief Seeman raised a valid point, questioning the payment of compensation from the exchequer. He said the compensation should be collected from those who manufactured the illegal liquor and those who were in league with them.
Plenty of memes are now circulating in social media, particularly trolling the compensation. In one of the memes, a wife can be seen beating her husband for going to TASMAC rather than drink the illegal liquor because it can fetch her Rs 10 lakh.
Last year, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin told the State Assembly that incidents of spurious liquor vending have been brought down.
But revelations made after the reports of the deaths broke out say that illegal liquor manufacturing is rampant in Kallakurichi with N Mohanraj Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) taking voluntary retirement after being prevented from cracking down on these unlawful activities.
More reports now allege that illegal liquor manufacturing is rampant and as a result the State government is losing revenues running into hundreds of crores.
On its part, the administration, including police, has not covered itself with glory. Initially, the district collector, who has since been transferred, denied the death of a person was due to consumption of hooch.
But when more people were reported dead, the State government had no cover to escape. Police, too, have been totally found wanting in tackling the issue.
While the Congress pitches in for a Dalit speaker, at least 34 of the dead are Dalits. Neither the Congress nor any of the I.N.D.I alliance partners of the DMK have said anything on the tragedy. Nor, any actor or director of Kollywood – Tamil cinema – who often are the first to jump to support the DMK.
BJP, AIADMK and a couple of smaller parties are the only ones who are protesting and making noises over the illegal liquor deaths.