Lucknow: As the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath readied himself on Tuesday morning to address a Cabinet meeting to congratulate his team on the BJP’s spectacular success in the general elections, he was faced with the grim reality of unchecked menace of illicit liquor, which took a toll of 14 in Barabanki, adjacent to Lucknow.
In the third such incident this year in UP, consumption of illicit liquor took a toll of human lives in Barabanki district on Monday and Tuesday. The toll was likely to go up as dozens are admitted to various hospitals.
In February this year, as many as 108 people had died in Kushinagar in east UP, Saharanpur in west UP bordering Uttarakhand (as also in Haridwar in Uttarakhand) after consuming illicit liquor that was prepared with industrial alcohol as the base material. At that time, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered a 15-day joint drive by excise and police officials against those involved in the spurious liquor trade.
Earlier in 2018, three hooch tragedies had taken place in the state, taking a toll of dozens of lives, in Kanpur, Kanpur (Rural) and Barabanki. Since 2011, consumption of illicit liquor has led to the deaths of hundreds of people across UP and Uttarakhand. In most cases, the highly intoxicating but lethal brew is made from ingredients as hazardous as battery acid, sedatives, urea, caustic soda and other chemicals.
In the latest incident, four members of one family and eight others fell prey to the toxic liquid they had consumed in Raniganj in Barabanki. They had bought the stuff from a country liquor vend, and soon after consuming it, they complained on ill-health and many of them lost their sights. Locals rushed them to nearby hospitals in Ramnagar and to Lucknow, where many of them died.
