The Bihar government is poised to provide compensation to the families of 52 victims of alcohol-related tragedies for the first time. In the first phase, 38 families in the districts of East Champaran and Nalanda will receive Rs 4 lakh each as compensation for the fatalities of relatives caused by alcohol-related incidents.
In April 2016, the state was placed under absolute prohibition. Under the new prohibition law, the production, sale, consumption, and storage of alcoholic beverages were all prohibited. Nonetheless, during the budget session of the state assembly, both the opposition BJP and the governing grand alliance partner, the CPI-ML, demanded compensation for the families of those killed by the consumption of counterfeit spirits.
According to sources at the Bihar police headquarters, the government decided in April of this year that families who had lost loved ones in alcohol-related catastrophes since Prohibition would each receive Rs 4 lakhs from the CM’s relief fund.
