New Delhi, July 11
The illicit liquor tragedy that has claimed 136 lives in Gujarat so far this week is "really sad" in a dry state, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here Saturday.
“Gujarat claims to be a dry state but over 100 (people) have died in the state. This is really sad,” Azad said on the sidelines of an event in the national capital.
He, however, declined to comment further on the issue and said: “Health is a state subject. Excise too is a state subject. I won't comment on it further.”
A number of people were hospitalised in Ahmedabad Monday after consuming moonshine and at least 136 of them have died.
Gujarat is the country's only state where sale and consumption of liquor is banned since its inception in 1960.