Orissa hooch toll hits 20

BHUBANESWAR, FEB. 17. The killer brew claimed four more lives in the capital city on Friday night, taking to 20 the toll here and in Puri during the past three days.

The Government had suspended three Excise officials of the Bhubaneswar jurisdiction for dereliction of their duties following the liquor tragedy. With this seven Excise officials, four of them from Puri, had been placed under suspension. Sources said about 20 people, who had consumed the spurious liquor, were still battling for their lives at Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack hospitals. The Government had so far arrested four liquor vendors in connection with the tragedy.

Meanwhile, the dawn-to-dusk bandh called in Puri today by the Pradesh Youth Congress to demand a judicial probe into the liquor tragedy, evoked mixed response. Though shops and business establishments had downed their shutters in many places, it was business as usual in some areas. Traffic on the road was thin. Government offices functioned normally while some banks were closed.

- UNI, PTI

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