New Delhi: Bihar hooch tragedy among other issues reverberated in the Rajya Saha in the early hours on Thursday leading to the adjournment of the House thrice within a short period of 40 minutes with both treasury benches and the Opposition raising their matters.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs from Bihar raised Bihar hooch tragedy issue soon after the Upper House assembled for the day at 11 am and the Deputy Chairman Harivansh allowed Zero Hour. The Opposition parties also raised other issues along with the news of the clash between Indian and Chinese troops on the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh on December 9.
“Please let the House function. This is Zero Hour which is very important. Please take your seats,” requested the Deputy Chairman.
As the ruckus continued, Harivansh announced the adjournment of the House thrice within 40 minutes.
The treasury benches raised hooch tragedy in Bihar’s Chapra which has claimed 39 lives on Wednesday in Bihar’s Saran district by consuming spurious liquor at a local joint. After the deaths, angry villagers blocked the Masrakh Hanuman Chowk on Bihar State Highway 90 and raised slogans against the district administration.
The incident triggered a political slugfest in the Bihar assembly, with opposition leaders mounting a strong attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over a spate of deaths due to the consumption of illicit liquor in the state.
Later, an irate Nitish lost his cool in the assembly and snapped at opposition MLAs who targeted the government over prohibition in the state.
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Nitish on Thursday again said the last time, when people died due to spurious liquor, someone said they should be compensated. “If someone consumes liquor, they’ll die – example is before us. This should be condoled, those places should be visited and people be explained.”
“Even when there was no liquor ban here, people died due to spurious liquor -even in other states. People should be alert. As there is a liquor ban here, something spurious will be sold due to which people die. Liquor is bad and shouldn’t be consumed,” Nitish said.
Sale and consumption of alcohol were banned in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government in April 2016.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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