Congress MPs protest against hooch tragedy in Gujarat

July 28th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Gujarat State Assembly on Tuesday passed a Bill proposing stringent punishment up to death penalty to deal with illicit liquor trade in the follow up of the recent hooch tragedy that claimed over 130 lives in the State. The Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment) Bill 2009 was passed with a majority vote in the House.

July 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - A group of Congress legislators from Gujarat called on President Pratibha Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and sought her intervention in the state's governance on Wednesday. The legislators blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled government for deterioration of law and order situation in the state.

July 17th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Crime Branch of the Gujarat Police arrested Vinod Dargi, the key accused in the Gujarat hooch tragedy, here on Friday. Police also arrested two other associates of Dargi, Ajay Thakkar and Sunil along with him.

July 16th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Renowned danseuse and social activist Mallika Sarabhai took out a march on Thursday along with several locals to voice their ire and protest against the hooch tragedy that claimed around 130 lives in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Sarabhai and family members of victims, who died after consumption of spurious liquor, led a march to the Gujarat state's Assembly to demand strict action against those guilty.

July 15th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Gujarat government on Wednesday declared that it would soon bring a new law having a provision to punish dealers of spurious liquor with seven years in imprisonment to capital punishment. The State government has come into action following wide uproar over the death of 152 people in Ahmedabad due to drinking illegally brewed liquor.

July 12th, 2009 AHMEDABAD J - The toll in the Ahmedabad hooch tragedy has risen to 127 following fourteen more deaths. According to police, 229 people are still admitted to various city hospitals.

July 11th, 2009 SURAT - Members of Sakhi Mandal, a women's group in Gujarat's Surat district, destroyed liquor dens. They burnt all material and spurious liquor kept in drums launching their drive against liquor barons on Saturday.

July 11th, 2009 AHMEDABAD J - The toll in Ahmedabad hooch tragedy has rises to 122after nine more deaths were reported. The police said that now 122 people have died and 227 were admitted to various city hospitals.

July 11th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Rejecting liquor baron Viajy Mallya's suggestion to rethink the state's prohibition policy, the Gujarat government said, that he should look at his liquor business and keep out of state's affairs. With the death toll of state's worst liquor tragedy nearing 130, Mallya, the owner of United Breweries, had said the enforcement of prohibition is becoming a mockery, which leads to illegal, unhygienic and unsupervised production of poisonous cocktails that claim innocent lives, and called the politicians to rethink over the prohibition policy in the interest of the people.

July 10th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Gujarat hooch tragedy death toll has risen to 103. According to police, the number of fatalities could go up as about 200 people are still undergoing treatment.he new cases were reported from Odhav, Amaraiwadi, Rakhial and Raipur.

July 10th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Schools and colleges remained closed in Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Friday as a mark of protest over the death of around 105 people due to consumption of spurious liquor. Cases of people dying after consuming spurious liquor were reported on Monday and by Thursday (around105 deaths were reported.

May 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - With nine more people succumbing overnight, the toll in the hooch tragedy in West Bengal's East Midnapore district rose to 20 Wednesday, police said. Three people were still admitted to hospital in serious condition, an officer at the state police control room said here.

May 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - With the official toll reaching 20 in West Bengal's hooch tragedy, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the main opposition Trinamool Congress are trying to gain poll mileage by blaming each other for the incident. The deaths occurred in East Midnapore district's Tamluk where people fell ill after consuming poisonous country-made liquor near Ramtarak Market of Mecheda in the Matangini block.

May 5th, 2009 KOLKATA - The toll in the hooch tragedy in West Bengal's East Midnapore district rose Tuesday to 11 - seven died in Tamluk and the others in city hospitals - while at least 23 were still battling for life, police said. 'At least seven people died in Tamluk itself,' East Midnapore police superintendent Pallab Kanti Ghosh told IANS.

March 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - A 18-year-old youth was seriously injured by those selling illicit liquor Sunday in a West Bengal town after he tried to protest its sale. Residents of Chamrail town of Kolkata's neighbouring Howrah district raided a local hooch outlet Saturday night.