Opposition Congress today alleged that there had been rampant incidents of daily wage earners dying of consumption of rectified spirit available in their hamlets causing depravation and poverty in their families in young age.
Congress legislator,'Theni' C Jayakumar during discussion on budget in the assembly asked the government to keep a vigil on the sale of rectified spirit and prevent the sale of concentrated rectified spirit.
He said that many young women turned widows following the death of main breadwinners as a result of consuming rectified spirit.
Jayakumar said at a function that he attended to distribute monthly assistance to widows and aged people in his constituency recently,he could see out of the 60 beneficiaries 59 women were widows, whose husbands had fallen a prey to the rectified spirit they consumed.
He suggested the government could start a distillery in Lingareddypalayam making use of the molasses available from the Cooperative Sugar mill there and produce recitified spirit to be used in preparing the arrack for sale in local shops.
