Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s native Nalanda district in dry Bihar was rattled by a hooch tragedy on Saturday that killed at least seven people and left several others battling for their lives.

The deaths took place in and around Chhoti Pahadi and Pahad Talli localities under Sohsarai police station and the loud wails of the family members of the victims came as yet another rude eye-opener about the ground reality of prohibition that Nitish implemented in April 2016. Around 117 people have lost their lives in the state in such incidents in the past one year.

The tragedy unfolded during the early hours of Saturday after the people who had consumed liquor felt terribly sick with nausea, stomach ache, restlessness and burning sensation in the body. They were rushed to the nearby government and private hospitals where at least six of them died.

“My father used to drink regularly. He had consumed liquor on Friday evening also. Around midnight he started vomitting and complained of stomach ache. We took him to hospital where the doctors declared him dead,” said Jyoti Devi, daughter of 55-year-old victim Manna Mistry.

Another 54-year-old victim Bhago Mistry’s daughter-in-law Lalita Devi said, “My father-in-law had come home after drinking liquor. He had his dinner early and then started vomitting. We took him to a doctor, who gave him some injections and medicines, but by morning he died.”

Several villagers pointed out that liquor trade and consumption never stopped in the area despite prohibition.

A villager added that normally dozens of people consume the freshly brewed country liquor on any particular day. “By that measure a large number of people must have fallen ill, but few are reporting out of the fear of the police, or being implicated in cases pertaining to flouting of prohibition.”

Meanwhile, the district administration and police officials rushed to the area where the hooch tragedy unfolded.

“Seven persons have lost their lives in the hooch tragedy so far though family members of two of them are vehemently denying liquor to be the cause behind their deaths. As per our information two people are undergoing treatment in hospital,” Nalanda district magistrate Shashank Shubhankar told The Telegraph.

The district magistrate and senior police officials undertook a combing operation of the hilly terrain in the area where the hooch deaths occurred, and busted liquor manufacturing hubs.

“We seized around 500 packets of country liquor, storage containers and machines used to seal them at the top of the hills in the area. The people involved had tried to torch them before fleeing away. We have got eight to 10 names and we are making all efforts to arrest them,” Shubhankar added.

Nitish-led NDA government faced a series of attacks on the latest liquor deaths that too in his native district. Surprisingly, the first one to fire volleys was ally BJP.

“The liquor mafia and traders who are the reason behind the failure of prohibition are not being arrested. The state government does not touch them, but takes action only against the poor and the weak. If you have implemented prohibition, it should reflect

on the ground instead of remaining on paper. We must review the prohibition law and take action against the real culprits, even if they are part of the government. Then only the ban on alcohol will succeed, else will remain a matter of joke,” BJP spokesperson and former MLA Prem Ranjan Patel said.

“The hooch deaths in Nalanda are a sad thing. Spurious, poisonous liquor is being sold continuously in the state despite prohibition. We are regularly asking for a review of the ban on liquor because there seem to be some flaws in the law due to which all this is happening,” Patel added.

Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) also cornered the government over the liquor deaths. Its spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwary said, “So many hooch tragedies are happening in the state despite the fact the entire Nitish government is engaged in enforcing prohibition. This means that those giving patronage to the liquor mafia are part of the government and the system. Nitish Kumar’s allies are now seeking a review of the liquor ban. The prohibition is a complete failure.”

Tiwary added that prohibition has led to the “governance in the state coming to a standstill because the entire focus is on enforcing it. Crime and law and order situation has worsened, but the attention is just on liquor ban. The state government is losing much revenue because of it.”

Asked about the issue, a senior JDU leader and minister in Nitish cabinet told this newspaper on the condition of anonymity: “Prohibition is enshrined in the directive principles of state policy in our constitution and could be an ideal for all of us, but has a remarkable history of failure across the globe, be it the United States where it rode on the Volstead Act from 1920-32 or Bihar in the late 1970s. It is time we need to consider it from this angle.”