NEW DELHI, June 20: At least 38 persons have died after allegedly consuming spurious liquor at Karunapuram in Kallakurichi district in Tamil Nadu on June 19 and June 20. The victims included two women and a transgender person. A total of 82 others are undergoing treatment. Meanwhile, over 2,000 police personnel drawn from various districts have been deployed in Kallakurichi.
In the wake of the tragedy the Tamil Nadu government transferred the District Collector Sravan Kumar Jatavath and placed under suspension the Superintendent of Police Samay Singh Meena.
While Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi has expressed shock over the incident, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has constituted a one-man commission of inquiry headed by former High Court judge B Gokuldas to conduct a thorough inquiry into the tragedy.
The Chief Minister also announced a solatium of ₹10 lakh each to the families of the deceased and ₹50,000 for those who were being treated.
Dravidar Kazhagam president K. Veeramani said the issue need not be politicised. Priority should be on taking precautionary measures to ensure that such incidents does not happen again, he said and expressed confidence that the DMK government would take appropriate measures. Mr Veeramani said the DMK government has acted swiftly on the issue by appointing a one-member commission to probe the incident
While the BJP state chief K Annamalai wrote a letter to the Union Home Minister to order a CBI inquiry into the hooch tragedy and the party announced assistance of Rs one lakh each to the families of the victims, the AIADMK launched a scathing attack on the Stalin government over the deaths in the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, AIADMK general secretary Edapaddi K Palaniswami on Thursday said ruling “DMK is behind illicit liquor sales in Tamil Nadu” and drugs are being sold all over the state.
He also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister MK Stalin over the tragedy.
Addressing the press conference, the AIADMK chief said, “Nearly 200 people are affected, 133 are under treatment. One by one people are coming to the hospital. Kallakurichi is the epic centre for illicit. It’s making us sad and worrying. All dead and affected are poor and underprivileged.”
(Manas Dasgupta)
