Left parties, Sasikala condemn the hooch tragedy

CHENNAI: Left parties CPI and CPM on Sunday urged the Tamil Nadu government to control the hooch business with iron hand, citing the recent hooch tragedy in Marakkanam.

The CPI state secretary R Mutharasan released a statement on Sunday, condemning the death of people after consuming hooch and several others admitted in hospital. Severe actions should be taken on the police personnels who were careless in controlling the hooch business, the party said in the statement.

The government should find out and arrest all the people connected with the hooch business, the party said in a statement. The criminals should not be escaped through the law loopholes and punished severely, said the statement.

CPM also condemned the Marakkanam hooch tragedy, and offered condolences to the families who lost lives in the tragedy. "The inefficiency of the Tamil Nadu Enforcement Wing and close nexus between the police personnels - Hooch traders are the reason for the hooch deaths," said K Balakrishnan, CPM state secretary, in a statement on Sunday.

He further demanded the government to change the enforcement wing as an efficient wing and take severe action against the police personnels who failed to control sale of illicit arrack in the state.

VK Sasikala, former interim general secretary of AIADMK too condemned the death of people in the hooch tragedy, in a press statement on Sunday. "DMK regime and hooch business are inseparable, the police are not taking action to control hooch business whenever DMK comes into power", said Sasikala.