Spurious liquor consumption deaths jump by 339 per cent

Deaths due to consumption of spurious alcohol jumped by 339 per cent last year with Maharashtra and Karnataka among the top five states where cases of illicit liquor are high.

While there were 387 deaths in 520 cases in 2013, the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2014 said it rose to 1,699 last year in 1,797 cases. Of the 1,699 deaths, two are transgenders while 107 were women.

Maharashtra topped the list with 359 deaths, the report released on Friday said.
It came three weeks after a hooch tragedy in Maharashtra’s Malvani in which over 100 people died.

Malvani tragedy figure will be included in the next report to be published some time mid-2016.

Chhattisgarh followed Maharashtra in cases (119) and deaths (156).

Punjab (118), Haryana (117) and Karnataka (111) had the same number of cases and deaths.

 Among the Union territories, Puducherry had the highest number of 95 deaths due to consumption of spurious liquor.

The Union Territory has one of the lowest rates for alcohol. The national capital had 19 deaths in this category.

Poisonous gases

Deaths due to inhaling poisonous gases were also high in Karnataka where 100 such incidents were reported in which 102 were killed.

The state was only behind its southern neighbour Tamil Nadu where 410 cases were reported and 355 were killed.

Among these, two each cases in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were due to inhaling carbon monoxide.

Across India, 711 people died due to inhaling poisonous gas in 809 incidents.