Death toll due to spurious liquor in Chhapra rises to 30, politics heats up

In Saran district, the death toll due to consumption of spurious liquor has increased to 30. These people died in Mashrak and Isuapur police station area near Chhapra. Earlier yesterday, there was a lot of uproar in the state assembly regarding this incident. There was fierce accusation-counter-accusation between the ruling party and the opposition. The state government under the leadership of Nitish Kumar had imposed a complete ban on the production, purchase, sale, consumption etc. of liquor in Bihar from April, 2016. Liquor business continues in the state even after complete prohibition. From time to time, incidents of death due to poisonous liquor keep coming to the fore.

Saran's civil surgeon-cum-medical officer in-charge Dr. Sagar Dulal Sinha said, "Most of the people died in the hospital located in Chhapra, the district headquarters." Some people who were ill since Tuesday morning, died during treatment.' Since it is suspected that all those who died had consumed some intoxicant, their excreta samples are being sent to Muzaffarpur for testing after post-mortem. Meanwhile, the district administration said it has formed teams of officers who would visit the affected villages and meet the affected families to try to trace those who might have served the spurious liquor.

Earlier on Wednesday, there was a heated debate inside the assembly between the opposition BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. BJP MLAs created ruckus inside the assembly. During this, many of them raised slogans accusing the government of failing to stop the sale of illegal liquor. The BJP MLAs demanded compensation to the family members of those who lost their lives in the Saran incident. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was seen getting up from his chair in anger and raising his finger towards the BJP MLAs.