Uttar Pradesh alcoholic gets reward for drinking

Lucknow: In a bizarre incident, a man in Deoria district in UP has been rewarded with a bicycle for drinking country liquor worth Rs 65,000 in the last six months.

Krishna Kant Bhagat, 62, was recently felicitated by Mail Chauraha villagers for his ‘achievement’. Bhagat has reportedly consumed 288.8 litres of whisky, around 1.6 litres on an average daily. He was garlanded, carried on people’s shoulders and also gifted a bicycle worth Rs 3,000.

The felicitation event was organised by the manager of a government-run liquor shop located at Bartha Chauraha in Mail village in Deoria district.

However, Vinod Singh, an accountant of the liquor shop, denied that the bicycle was a reward for drinking the maximum liquor in six months. “The bicycle has been given to him in lieu of the cooking he did at a party,” he said.

The manager of the shop that allegedly gifted the bicycle had gone missing and has not been seen at the shop ever since the incident came to light.

Bhagat, meanwhile, is a widower who stays alone in a hut. His wife Ram Kesha Devi had died of cardiac arrest six years ago and his five children have abandoned him.

His daughter-in-law Roopmati said, “She is tired of her father-in-law and his antics. We have nothing to do with him.”  

However, he said that he is a professional cook and works for a catering company. He said he earned up to Rs 20,000 a month during the wedding season. “I spend around 80 per cent of my income on liquor, but that should not be anyone’s problem because I do not ask for money,” he said.

Drinking without a break since the past 32 years, he said, “I never create a scene or create trouble. I come home and go to sleep after drinking.” Bhagat admitted the liquor shop owner presented him a bicycle on the feat and “personally” garlanded him.

Social activist M.P. Visharad, who was present at the function where Bhagat the liquor shop manager felicitated Bhagat said it was discouraging for the youths and has gives out a bad message. This incident has come to light at a time when the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath is taking stringent measures against sale of alcohol.