Kallakurichi hooch tragedy: TN village turns graveyard; Stalin institutes probe panel

At least 37 persons in Karunapuram village in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district have been declared dead in the last 48 hours after consuming illicit liquor.

Initially, two men died of consuming illicit liquor. At his funeral, the attendees consumed the liquor too, leading to the huge tragedy.

Just a year ago, illicit liquor, known locally as packet sarayam ('arrack in packets'), killed 22 people in the neighboring Villupuram district.

Stalin institutes commission

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday (June 20) instituted a one-man commission led by retired Madras High Court Judge B Gokuldas to recommend measures to the government to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. The commission will also look into the reasons for the Kallakurichi deaths.

Stalin said four persons linked to the sale of poisonous arrack have been arrested so far. He announced Rs 10 lakh assistance to each of the families of people who died after consuming illicit arrack. Also, he announced Rs 50,000 assistance to those who are being treated in hospitals.

The State Home Secretary and Director General of Police will submit a report on the hooch tragedy following inspection, he added.

Opposition slams DMK govt

Opposition parties strongly criticised the Stalin government’s alleged inaction, and the failure of the police system, to control the illicit liquor mafia.

At Karunapuram village, The Federal correspondent saw two open thatched sheds that acted as source points for the illicit liquor sales.

Most of the men who consumed the liquor had attended the funeral of the village's first victims, Suresh and Praveen. They bought illicit liquor there, leading to their deaths, too. Used arrack packets were spotted dumped on the roads of the village.

Ironically, Karunapuram village, where most of the deaths occurred, is flanked by a district court on one side and a local police station on the other. Many activists questioned the failure of police officials to identify the sale of illicit liquor in the village, which is close to their station.

Couple death

There is a case of a family in Karunapuram where both a man and his wife, who consumed the liquor, died, leaving their three young children without a clue on how to proceed with the funeral.

“My father consumed liquor and left some in the tumbler. My mother drank it, mistaking it for water. Now both of them are no more. We are orphans now,” said a sobbing teenage girl.

Another victim narrated how the tragedy came to light after many suffered similar symptoms and died in a few hours.

“Our men consumed liquor at the funeral house. We did not realise it in the beginning. When all of them had similar symptoms of vomiting blood, diarrhea, and loss of eyesight like Suresh, we realised that illicit liquor was the killer. Our village has become a graveyard now. We lost our men, our children lost their fathers,” said a young wife whose husband was admitted to the emergency ward of the Kallakurichi Government Hospital.

EPS visits hospital

Edappadi K Palaniswami, AIADMK supremo and Leader of Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, severely criticised the DMK government. The former Chief Minister said he would raise the issue of policing failure in the state against illicit liquor sales in the Assembly session on Friday (June 21).

Palaniswami, popularly know as EPS, visited the Kallakurichi hospital and interacted with the families of the deceased. “Deaths due to illicit consumption have continued ever since the DMK regime took over, and I have been raising the issue and seeking action in the state Assembly as well,” he said, demanding that the state government take tough action on the issue.

AIADMK leader and former state Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, who visited the site of tragedy, told The Federal the ruling DMK government was squarely responsible for the deaths. EPS has been flagging the issue for a while, he said, adding that Stalin should resign as CM.

Orphaned children

Women’s rights activist KR Renuka said the government should provide immediate care to children who had lost their parents.

“Several victims are daily wage laborers. Children are facing a big trauma now. They have to be consoled and provided amenities for survival as their breadwinners are lost. It's pathetic that the sale of illicit liquor was known to many and the business was operated close to a police station,” said Renuka.

She also questioned why the government failed to implement guidelines framed last year after the deaths in Villupuram district.

“Illicit liquor business was so rampant in Marakanam village in Villupuram, and now Karunapuram village in Kallakurichi has come into the picture. It's shocking that these hubs get to operate in open places and police officials failed to crack them before mass deaths,” said Renuka.