Summary:
Hooch kills 40 in 48 hrs in UP, Uttarakhand Governments in both the states acted swiftly after the tragedy. Ten policemen were suspended Friday in Uttar Pradesh.Both states announced drives to curb the sale spurious liquor. While 13 excise department officials and four policemen were suspended in Uttarakhand, Saharanpur SSP suspended ten policemen, including an SHO, from Gagalhedi and Naagal police stations, under which all the affected villages fall. By Saturday afternoon, the combined deaths too had risen to 70.In an unrelated incident, nine people have died over the week in eastern Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district, allegedly after drinking spurious liquor.Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered departmental action against district excise officers of Kushinagar and Saharanpur, the state government said.In Uttarakhand, 13 excise department personnel and four policemen have been placed under suspension. HARIDWAR/SAHARANPUR: The death toll in the hooch tragedy that hit two adjoining districts in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh has risen to 70 with more people dying of the spurious liquor they drank at a Haridwar village , officials said Saturday.The viscera examination on 11 more bodies is yet to be conducted to find out if these too were alcohol-related deaths.Twenty-four of the victims died in Balupur and its neighbouring villages in Uttarakhand's Haridwar district, state's additional director general (Law and Order) Ashok Kumar said.At least 46 others, who had come home to the adjoining Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh after drinking the spurious liquor in Balupur on Thursday night, are also dead.Uttar Pradesh officials said 35 of the Saharanpur deaths took place in the district itself..