NEW DELHI, India, Feb 23 (NNN-PTI) – The death toll due to consumption of illicit liquor in India’s northeastern state of Assam, Friday, has risen to 41, local government officials said.
Over 60 others are in hospitals undergoing treatment.
The hooch was consumed by people on Thursday evening, at Halmira tea estate in Golaghat district, about 275 km east of Dispur, the capital of Assam.
According to officials, 23 deaths have taken place at Golaghat hospital, while 18 deaths were reported at adjacent Jorhat Medical College hospital.
“In Golaghat hospital the death toll has risen to 23, while many others are still admitted here,” a senior police officer, Partha Pratim Saikia, said. “Many others are still being hospitalised.”
Medical superintendent at Jorhat Medical College hospital, Saurabh Borkotoki, said, 18 deaths have taken place in the hospital.
“Sixty-five people were admitted in the hospital and out of them 18 have died, so far,” Borkotoki said. “The remaining 47 are undergoing treatment.”
Health officials say, the cause of deaths, according to preliminary investigation, seems to be consumption of “spurious country-made liquor.”
Meanwhile, Assam chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, has formed an inquiry commission to investigate the incident, reports said.
Earlier this month, around 100 people died in a hooch tragedy, in the northern Indian states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Following the deaths, authorities suspended several officials and have started a crackdown on illicit liquor- manufacturing units and sales points.
In Dec, 2011, hooch tragedy killed 172 people in South 24-Parganas district of West Bengal.
Spurious alcohol deaths are often reported in India, where people often drink cheap country- made bootleg liquor.– NNN-PTI
