Bar tragedy has little impact on tipplers

Victims’ families struggle to make both ends meet

Vijayawada: The infamous December liquor tragedy has little impact on the family of Kola Santha, a domestic help in Krishnalanka area. Although five persons died and 30 others were hospitalised after consuming adulterated liquor in a bar in their neighbourhood, the incident is no deterrent for Santha’s husband, who continues to be a raging alcoholic.

He is a sand worker who earns around Rs 8,000 per month. But not a single penny of his goes for the family. To make ends meet, thirty-two-year-old Santha is forced to work as a domestic help. She earns Rs 7,000 a month from seven house-holds. Her family always runs out of money as liquor expenses eat into their earnings. The case of Santha is a pointer to the linkages between alcohol and domestic violence.

The bruises on her body speak volumes of domestic violence she is subjected to by her husband. She got her daughter married off at a very young age, as her husband is not supportive, financially and even otherwise.

Santha is not the sole victim of alcoholism. Many women are waging lone battles with drunkard husbands, who splurge everything they earn on liquor, and then subject them to domestic violence. “There are four bars in Krishnalanka and ironically, not one government hospital. These bars call out to the alcohol addicts, who go home drunk, and beat their wives.

That’s their daily routine,” said T Lakshmi, an AIDWA worker. The consumption of spurious and cheap liquor continues to be on the rise at the lower end of the income spectrum. The plight of the families who lost their breadwinners to spurious liquor in the recent hooch tragedy is deplorable.

Even two months after the death of Akula Vijayakumar (41) due to consuming adulterated liquor at Swarna bar, his wife Lakshmi is still haunted by his memories. Lakshmi, who hails from the Chenchu tribe, talks about her husband very fondly. She was married to him for 20 years and she called it a ‘blissful’ period.

He was the sole breadwinner for the family and Lakshmi, who was a housewife before, is now looking to work as a domestic help to fend for herself. Vijayakumar used to work in a steel factory near Hanuman Junction with a monthly income of Rs 10,000.

When asked about the ex gratia from the Government, she said, “Yes. I received Rs 5 lakh. But that cannot replace my husband. He was my pillar of support. Without him, everything looks very bleak and bizarre. Suddenly, I have no shoulder to lean on,” she said in a choking voice.

Lakshmi’s agony mirrors the misery of the four other families who lost their beloved ones. K Santhi Priya, daughter of Munagala Sankar (60), still finds it difficult to believe that her father is no more. Santhi Priya’s mother died when she was young, her dad brought her up and got her married.

Padala Chinnari, daughter of Narasa Gopi (55), bawled, “that day, I begged him not to drink. He did not budge. I went running to the bar when someone told me my dad collapsed outside the bar. He passed away right in front of me.”

The daily struggle of tens of thousands of women victims of alcohol does not seem to bother the Government, whose target for the excise revenue for 2015-16 is Rs 12,258 crore. According to sources, the excise revenue in 2014-15 was around Rs 11,000 crore. Clearly, the excise revenue is a major contributor to our State’s coffers.

Speaking to The Hans India, K Viyyanna Rao, ex Vice-Chancellor, Acharya Nagarjuna University, contended that the Government’s extreme reliance on excise revenue cannot be justified. He said, “In my opinion, there is no link between excise revenue and Government’s pursuits of welfare schemes. There are other revenue sources which can be used to implement welfare schemes.”

When the women victims of alcohol are desperately seeking a lasting solution in prohibition, AIDWA State Secretary, D Rama Devi opined that complete prohibition of alcohol does not seem to be possible, in the given scenario. She advocated ‘responsible drinking’ as an initial step, instead.