Karnataka - Bangalore

Families bereft after breadwinners’ death

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Sorry tale: Residents display sachets of illicit liquor that were sold from a house in Roshan Nagar.

BANGALORE: The ambulance sirens that rent the air near Bowring Hospital only bring gloom to many of the families living on the rugged and narrow road leading to Roshan Nagar where many construction labourers and other workers reside. These ambulances bear the bodies of the victims of Monday’s hooch tragedy, many of whom were the breadwinners of families.

“I do not know how I will look after my six children. The future looks frightening,” said Dilsad, wife of 35-year-old labourer Shabbir, who is one of the 20 persons who have died in the area on Monday. Holding her six-month-old daughter, Ms. Dilshad said, “I am presently staying with my mother. I have to move out shortly and lead an independent life. I have to search for work, which I have not done till now.”

Ms. Dilsad’s condition was similar to the families of 19 other residents of the area who died after consuming hooch. “Whoever has made and distributed this spurious brew is responsible for destroying 20 families here. The police have taken bribes and not taken action despite knowing about the illegal sale,” said Imran Khan, who runs a small grocery shop in Roshan Nagar.

The family of Nagaraja (54), a labourer who died in the tragedy, is anxious. He has left behind his wife and 11 children, who all stay in a small hut. “We all depended on the income my father earned by cutting stones,” said Nagaraja’s daughter, Marimuthu, who is pregnant. She was struggling to find space to keep the bodies of her father and her 70-year-old mother-in-law Parvati, who had also consumed hooch. “They have been drinking arrack for quite sometime. There was poison in the brew they consumed yesterday,” she said, while consoling her mother.

Those who had drunk the liquor started to vomit by Sunday evening. “My neighbour called me when her husband started to vomit even while he gradually started losing sight. When I went to her, he was already dying and he asked me to pray. I read him the verses of the Quran. I could not do much to help,” said Mohammed Nayaz, a painter, narrating the circumstances leading to the death of his neighbour, Dorai. “He was not alcoholic but consumed alcohol occasionally. There is none to look after his wife and four children,” Mr. Nayaz said.

The residents said that alcohol was being illegally sold for quite some time from a house. “Each sachet was being sold at Rs.10. We destroyed the place today,” said 15-year-old Goush, son of 35-year-old painter Maula, who is another victim of the spurious hooch. Young children of the area were seen showing packets of hooch buried in the razed house.

Local leaders and former corporators visited the slum and distributed money among the families of the affected. “How can money compensate for the loss of family members,” asked a sorrowing Dilsad. Several women told The Hindu that they had complained about the sale of illicit liquor to the D.J Halli police station but no action was taken.

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