Hooch tragedy | Bodies of dead dumped in shallow graves as firewood runs out to perform last rites

Guwahati, February 25, 2019:

As per the latest reports, as many as 185 people have succumbed to the poison of spurious liquor in the state, most of them belonging to the tea tribe community. A shadow of death has spread its wings over the Upper Assam districts of Golaghat and Jorhat and bodies are being disposed of en masse in shallow graveyards.

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The tea tribe community, which has long been seeking a pathway to development, only to be ignored by the Government, has now been unable to find peace even in death. Despite the Government’s assurance of Rs. 2 lakhs to the kin of the deceased,  their bodies are being dumped into shallow graves as arrangements for proper last rite ceremonies are not being made due to economic problems as well as lack of family or relatives to bid them a proper adieu. Some families, in fact, have been swallowed

The BJP Government had assured the tea tribes that it would look into their concerns and seek to resolve the age-old socio-economic problems which they have been facing since time immemorial, but where are the promised ‘achche din’ for these poor folk? The tribes, while knowing full well that hooch could be fatal, have no alternatives with which they can drown their sorrows as the cheap drink soothes their nerves while politicians and bureaucrats sip imported whiskey in the comfort of their air-conditioned houses. How long will the plight of the poor go ignored in the ivory towers where politicians make their policies?