Hooch tragedy: Cries and screams engulf this Saharanpur village
UMAHI (SAHARANPUR) : Life was normal in this village till Thursday night. But as Friday dawned hell broke loose with cries and screams of people coming from the far end of this village where dalits reside.
Village pradhan Mussarat Jahan’s husband Mumtaj Ali told HT that he rushed to spot along with other villagers. He said they were told that three dalits had died after consuming spurious liquor on Thursday night.
Even while villagers were consoling the grieving families, reports of people having fallen sick poured in from some other houses. Ali said that family members and villagers rushed the sick persons to the nearest hospitals even as gloom descended on the entire village.
The matter was soon reported to the Nangal police and they rushed to the village immediately. Meanwhile, reports of deaths and people falling critically ill due to consumption of spurious liquor also started pouring in from nearby Mali, Sarbatpur and Salempur villages.
But Umahi village was the worst hit by the hooch tragedy as ‘pradhan pati’ (pradhan’s husband) Ali listed 23 names of dead and sick people after visiting the families personnally.
Ali said 14 villagers had lost their lives since Friday morning and nine others were undergoing treatment in different hospitals.
Twelve of the 14 deceased persons were dalits and the other two were Muslims, who consumed liquor after purchasing it from one Pintu, a dalit. Pintu had also consumed the liquor with his father Balram, brother Jal Singh, uncle Shyamu and another kin Rajkumar and all five of them had died. Matloob, a member of the block development committee, claimed that barring Shyamu and Rajkumar, the other 12 victims were less than 40 years in age and most of them had left behind children aged between three to 16 years.
Saharanpur district magistrate Alok Kumar Pandey admitted deaths of 36 villagers so far and claimed that ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each had already been distributed to families of 16 victims and that others would get it soon.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had on Friday directed the payment of Rs 2 lakh ex gratia to the kin of the deceased. However, there were questions raised on the amount of relief.
Rahul, Surya and Nikki, all students, said “how can the families of victims survive with their children with such a small amount?”
The ‘angry’ youngsters described the amount as a “mockery” of the victims families.
They demanded ex gratia of Rs 20 lakh each to protect the future of the hapless families.
Rahul said “people lost their lives because of the negligence of authorities, who have failed in putting an effective check on bootleggers and supply of spurious liquor in the region.”
Meanwhile, Bheem Army chief Chandrashekher aka Ravan and its district president Kamal Walia attended the funeral of four victims in the village on Friday.
Chandrashekher demanded Rs 25 lakh ex gratia for families of victims and government job to a family member. Walia also threatened to launch a protest movement if the authorities ignored their demands.