South India: Death toll from tainted liquor hits 110

Locally brewed liquor with lethal chemicals killed over 110 people in southern part of the country, over the weekend. At least 55 succumbed after consuming the illicit liquor on Tuesday.

According to news reports, since the liquor went on sale, mostly poor laborers have died and more than a dozen have been hospitalized. Reports confirmed that most of the deaths were in Bangalore Urban and Bangalore Rural districts.

Bootleggers began selling the deadly brew Saturday after police shut authorized liquor shops in parts of the Karnataka state because of voting for the state government, said Sri Kumar, the state police chief.

The incident has once again intensified the Church’s fight against liquor, vying to sensitize people of its effects and the need for a better and peaceful society.

Recently, the re–opening of 1610 of the 2000–odd toddy shops in Kerala, closed down by the previous government led by A.K Antony, caused wide–spread protests by the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), who asked for a ban on the government's liquor policy.

“We will make the government lose its sleep if it continues with its anti–people liquor policy,” warned Thiruvanthapuram Archbishop Susaipakiam M.

The Archbishop said “many prominent people from various walks of life joined the Church leaders in its protests.”

Over the past decade, the council, he said, has spoken to various governments about the need for a liquor ban and for spreading awareness against the consumption of alcohol, but in vain. Kerala has one of the highest per capita consumption of liquor in the country.

Calling for a change in social mores of the country, to check the increasing problem of alcoholism, the Churches have been conducting educational camps and establishing rehabilitation centers, to inculcate in people the good habits for a peaceful life.