Date:05/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/05/stories/2009010556371000.htm

National

14 die after taking liquor

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: Fourteen people were killed and many hospitalised after consuming spurious liquor at Kidderpore in the city on Sunday.

The condition of some of them was stated to be critical.

Tension prevails

Tension prevailed in the area as news started reaching the locality about the deaths from various hospitals. Mobs attacked the shops where liquor was served to the victims, a section of whom are stated to be workers in the neighbouring docks as well as a nearby jute mill. People seized several bottles with fake labels of various breweries and alleged a nexus between the local police and those engaged in the sale of spurious and illicit liquor.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee visited the area and spoke to members of the some of the bereaved families.

Ms. Banerjee accused the Left Front government of indiscriminately issuing licences for liquor sale and “destroying lives and killing people” by encouraging them to take to alcohol.

Inquiry demanded

She demanded an enquiry into the events leading to the deaths and blamed the administration and the police for failing to take action against those responsible for running the illicit liquor dens. She also demanded compensation to the next of kin of those dead.

The Trinamool Congress youth wing members staged a demonstration outside the local thana, where Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakravarty held a meeting with senior police officers.

The police conducted raids in the area and detained some persons, a senior police officer said.