Stop liquor tragedies

Sir,
It was a heart-rending tragedy. When the news last came in, 145 poor tea garden labourers in Assam had lost their lives on 24 February 2019 and another 200 were struggling for their lives in the hospital-around 30 of them in a serious condition. A tragedy definitely preventable and it should not have occurred at all in the first place.
Now that the tragedy has struck, it is time for catharsis. All civilised and reasonable people not only in the State of Assam but all over the country should seriously ponder over as to how to stop such tragedies from recurring. Assam is not an isolated case. Hardly a week before that nearly 100 lives were lost in similar hooch tragedies in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on Accidental Deaths and Suicides for 2015, deaths due to consumption of illicit/poisonous liquor numbered 1699 in 2014 and there were 1522 deaths in 2015 in a total of 1699 incidents of spurious liquor consumption. Invariably, it is the poor labourers and slum-dwellers who pay the price with their lives.
Alcoholism among workers is an internal problem the labour movement has to address. It is the womenfolk who are worst hit due to this, as their resources are taken away and they become targets of domestic violence. Many parts of the country, particularly Andhra Pradesh, have witnessed glorious anti-liquor movements smashing illegal liquor vends. Going beyond a question of internal reform, it is matter of life and death. The labour movement has to direct its ire against the liquor mafia and eliminate it.
B. Sivaraman
On e-mail

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here