Bihar liquor tragedy: Unconfirmed reports claim 60 dead so far (File)
new Delhi:
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has decided to appoint its own investigation team to conduct an “on-the-spot” probe into the Bihar spurious liquor tragedy. Officials said on Saturday that eight more people died in two districts of Bihar allegedly after consuming spurious liquor. Six people died in Siwan district adjoining Saran, while two others died in Begusarai.
Unconfirmed reports have claimed that 60 people have died so far in Saran district after drinking country liquor made illegally. However, officials put the death toll at 30.
In view of media reports about more deaths in the Bihar hooch tragedy spreading to other districts, the NHRC said it has “decided to depute its investigation team headed by one of its members for on-spot investigation”. .
The commission wants to know where and what kind of treatment is being provided to these victims. Most of them are from poor families and probably cannot afford expensive treatment in private hospitals. Therefore, it becomes absolutely necessary on the part of the state government to provide best possible medical treatment to them wherever available, it said in a statement.
“The Commission wishes to know about the relief and rehabilitation provided by the State Government as well as the measures taken or to be taken to eliminate bootlegging hotspots across the State to completely eliminate this social menace.” wants to know about the State of Bihar,” the rights panel said.
The NHRC has issued notices to the Bihar government and the state police chief over the Saran poisoning tragedy, officials said on Friday.
The NHRC found that the sale and consumption of alcohol was completely banned in Bihar in April 2016, although its “implementation has been poor”.
Apparently, the reported incident “indicates the failure of the state government” on the implementation of its policy to ban sale and consumption of illicit or spurious liquor in the state, it said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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