by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
NEW DELHI, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in spurious liquor consumption in the northern Indian state of Punjab has risen to 121, officials said Saturday.
Giving break up of the deaths, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said 92 people were killed in Tarn Taran, 15 in Amritsar and 14 in Gurdaspur because of the consumption of hooch.
The government has so far arrested 54 people for the alleged involvement and detained 21 others for helping them. The arrested would be tried for murders in the court of law.
"Murder charges slapped by Punjab police against all kingpins in hooch tragedy on directives of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Absconding father-son duo nabbed, taking total arrests in the case to 54. Another 21 held for harbouring the criminals," Raveen Thukral, media advisor to Punjab Chief Minister said.
The chief minister has promised the victim families that harsh punishment would be given to the perpetrators behind spurious liquor tragedy. He described the deaths in tragedy nothing short of "mass murders".
"The perpetrators of this heinous crime deserve no leniency. We will depute special prosecutors to ensure fast-track hearing and exemplary punishment to the accused," the Chief Minister said.
On Friday the Chief Minister visited Tarn Taran to meet the bereaved families. He also handed the compensation amount in the shape of a cheque to the local administration for the distribution among victim families.
He has hiked compensation amount from 2,665 U.S. dollars to 6,663 U.S. dollars for each victim family.
The deaths in the states three districts were reported last week, following which local government ordered a probe.
Locals said many families have lost their sole breadwinners in the tragedy.
Meanwhile, the deaths have triggered a political row in the state with opposition parties attacking the local government over the tragedy and demanding the resignation of the chief minister.
The opposition parties even staged protests blaming government inaction as the reason for deaths. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or common man's party has been demanding a probe from the Central Bureau of Investigation into tragedy and people behind the hooch trade responsible for the deaths.
In February last year a hooch tragedy in India's northeastern state of Assam claimed over 150 lives mostly of tea garden workers at an estate.
Spurious alcohol deaths are often reported in India, where people usually drink cheap country made bootleg liquor. Enditem
