BIHARSHARIF: Two more persons died on Monday, taking the death toll in Nalanda hooch tragedy to 13 on Monday. Four others with blurred vision and other complications were struggling for life in the Biharsharif hospital.
The two who died on Monday were identified as Deepak Paswan of
Singarhaat
and
Shyam Kumar from Chhoti Pahadi under
Sohsarai
police station area. Eight persons of Chhoti Pahadi and two from Parbhu Bigha had died on Saturday allegedly after consuming spurious liquor on January 14. Hours later, one Prahlad Mistry of Chhoti Pahadi had also succumbed to internal injuries caused due to consumption of poisonous liquor.
The district administration identified 64 houses constructed illegally at Chhoti Pahadi and being used for liquor manufacturing and smuggling. Eviction notices were pasted on those houses on Monday, Nalanda DM
Shashank Shubhankar
said. He said action for encroachment of government property will be initiated against those who resist vacating the illegally constructed structures within 15 days.
Additional principal secretary, excise, prohibition and registration department, K K Pathak on Monday held a high-level meeting with state home secretary K Senthil Kumar, ADG (law and order) Sanjay Singh, excise commissioner B Kartikey Dhanji, IG (central range) Rakesh Rathi, IG (prohibition) Amrit Raj, Nalanda DM Shashank and SP Ashok Mishra at Biharsharif to take stock of the situation.
Pathak met the bereaved families at Chhoti Pahadi and asked the DM to book the hardcore liquor smugglers, distributors and consumers under the CCA. He said the district administration has also been instructed to strictly implement the provisions of prohibition law and find alternative source of sustenanance under Jeevikoparjan project for those who had been in liquor business before the implementation of prohibition law in April 2016.
Biharsharif Sadar SDPO
Shibli Nomani
said six liquor smugglers, including the kingpin who allegedly supplied spurious liquor to the deceased on January 14, had been arrested. He said police also recovered huge quantity of country liqour, IMFL, packaging material and equipment used in packaging liquor from the localities.
Nalanda SP Mishra said around 40 liquor smugglers and their supporters had been arrested from across the district in the past 24 hours. He said the entire network of liqour smuggling will be dismantled soon.
Meanwhile, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan met the bereaved families at Chhoti Pahadi on Monday and came down heavily on CM Nitish Kumar for his liquor policy.
He said innocent persons belonging to the weaker sections of the society were being killed due to lax in the proper implementation of the prohibition law and the chief minister didn’t find time to console the bereaved families in his own district.
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