PATNA: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said on Friday that strict action is being taken against the liquor mafia. Action is being taken wherever information about liquor supply has been received in the state.
The remarks came after reports of deaths surfaced from various parts of the state due to spurious liquor.
Tejashwi Yadav has alleged that most of the liquor is being supplied from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. There is a BJP government in both the states. The government there is not doing any investigation. It was learned that 108 cartons of liquor bottles were recovered from the house of LoP V Sinha.
Tejashwi Yadav went and met the family of the deceased yesterday after the statement of Leader of Opposition Bihar Vidhansabha Vijay Kumar Sinha. Vijay Kumar Sinha alleged that the bodies of the dead were burnt without postmortem. Yadav alleged that liquor trade is going on in Bihar with the connivance of the police.
Those who consume alcohol will not be given compensation: Nitish Kumar
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already made it clear that if a person dies after consuming spurious liquor, he will not be given compensation. The chief minister’s remarks came amid strong criticism from the BJP-led opposition in the wake of rising spurious liquor deaths in Chhapra district.
Action is being taken where such incidents are being reported. You are not informing us that you are going to drink. Such elements exist in society. There has to be awareness, he added.
The CM has been fighting a firestorm of protests and Opposition attacks over his alleged failed liquor prohibition policy.
Defending the liquor ban in Bihar, he had earlier said the state’s prohibition policy has seen many giving up drinking in the state.
Death toll after drinking spurious liquor crosses 67
The Chief Minister said that those who speak against prohibition will not do any good to the people. The Chief Minister is fighting the attacks of the opposition regarding the prohibition policy. In fact, the number of people who died of spurious liquor increased to 60 in Chhapra district on Friday. The Upper House of Parliament had to be adjourned thrice on Thursday over the issue of death due to consumption of spurious liquor.
Most of deaths reportedly took place over Wednesday and Thursday, evoking an uproar both inside and outside the Bihar Assembly.
The Opposition, led by BJP, took on the ruling JDU-RJD combine over the rising hooch deaths despite a ban on the sale and consumption of liquor in the state, which has been in effect since April 2016.
