Thaindian News

Diamond Harbour (West Bengal), Dec 15 (IANS) Sisters mourn their brothers, the old and infirm grieve inconsolably for their sons who used to earn for the family, and new widows weep and wail staring at an uncertain future - heart-rending scenes prevail in large parts of Magrahat block as procession of dead bodies continued Thursday.

“What will I do now? How will I live,” cried Ujala Bibi, whose husband succumbed after consuming spurious liquor Wednesday night.

Outside her small hutment, two children sit, too stunned to move and too young to understand they have lost their father — a mobile hawker — for ever.

It was the lure of cheap liquor - Rs.10 per small glass - that has taken away 143 lives of males - some of them in their teens and pre-teens - in this sub-division of South 24 Parganas district.

All the victims had quenched their thrust for the heady liquor at over a dozen shanties near Sangrampur railway station, and a few in adjacent villages Tuesday night.

“They started vomiting, complaining of excruciating stomach ache and had loose motions from the early hours Wednesday. With time their condition deteriorated. They had chest pain. A few died at home before they could be moved to hospital,” said a local.

Cardio-respiratory failure was said to be the cause of death.

From early Wednesday, it has been a familiar story in Damond Harbour Sub-divisional Hospital, the nodal hospital for the tragedy victims. “The vomiting, pain and diarrhoea would increase, and the patient would suddenly have violent seizures. Within five minutes everything would end,” said a local who has been helping out patients at the ill-equipped medical facility.

With all the beds filled up, many of the patients lie on the floor.

“I drank Tuesday night. After some hours I fell ill. I was brought here. Then I recovered and was discharged. But the problems returned after a short while and I had to be readmitted. There is a burning sensation in the eye,” said Azizur S.K. of Sangrampur village.

Some doctors feel there was a fear that some of the patients may lose their eyesight even if they survive.

Hassan Mollah, a resident of Kalash village under Magrahat 1 block, seemed to have lost all hope. “I don’t know what will happen to me,” he said, seemingly breathless, as four of his relatives held him tightly.

The entire Magrahat area is mainly minority dominated, with bulk of the residents coming from the poorer sections of the society.

“People are generally very poor. Most of them are mobile hawkers, masons and small farmers and daily wage labourers. Only a few are small shopowners,” said Sahadat Hossain, a teacher.

The Magrahat area was for years infamous for dacoities, murders, and other crimes, and the thud of heavy police boots in night hours in search of an elusive criminal was an all too familiar occurrence for the villagers.

“Now things have somewhat improved,” said Sahadat.

But then, the fatal craving for liquor at a price they could afford was too irresistible for the hapless souls, who wanted to drown the misery of their daily existence in a Rs.10 glass - little knowing it was a sip of death.