Nearly 300 have been hospitalised. The deaths come less than two weeks after more than 100 people died in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand from drinking illegally produced alcohol
Police suspect the liquor was procured late Thursday night. Pic/AFP
The number of tea plantation workers who have died after consuming toxic illicit liquor in Assam has gone up to 80. Nearly 300 have been hospitalised. The deaths come less than two weeks after more than 100 people died in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand from drinking illegally produced alcohol.
The Assam government has ordered investigations into two separate incidents in Golaghat and Jorhat districts. According to the police, the number of dead is likely to increase as more people from a plantation in Golaghat, 310 km east of Guwahati, were taken to the hospital after they consumed the liquor on Thursday night.
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Two people have been arrested. "Doctors from nearby districts and other medical colleges have been rushed in to deal with the crisis," said Assam Health Minister and senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, after visiting patients at Jorhat. "Every 10 minutes we are getting reports of casualties from different places," he said.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi condoled the deaths on Friday in a Facebook post, saying, "I am saddened by the incident which occurred in Assam's Golaghat area. My deepest condolences to the families of the victims."
Police suspect the liquor was procured late Thursday night from the home of a 65-year-old woman named Dhraupadi Oran and her 30-year-old son Sanju Oran at Salmara tea garden in Golaghat. The mother and son have died.
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