Trigge­ring a crackd­own agains­t bootle­ggersNEW DELHI: At least 99 people have died and scores have been hospitalised in northern India after drinking toxic alcohol, triggering a crackdown against bootleggers, officials said on Monday. In one district of Uttar Pradesh 59 people had died after consuming toxic alcohol, police spokesperson Shailendra Kumar Sharma told AFP. Newspaper reports said around 3,000 people linked with the illegal trade were arrested across Uttar Pradesh in the aftermath of the tragedy. Nude protest, black flags greet India’s Modi in AssamHundreds of poor people die every year in India due to alcohol poisoning, mostly from consuming cheap alcohol. Of the estimated 5 billion litres of alcohol drunk every year in India, around 40 percent is illegally produced, according to the International Spirits and Wine Association of India.

Source: The Express Tribune February 11, 2019 07:41 UTC