‘Dead’ alcoholics helpline upsets Chief Justice

The malfunction came to light when a PIL moved by Advocate Balu on PMK’s behalf came up for hearing, Advocate General A L Somayaji submitted that out of the 27 recommendations cited in WHO’s Global status report on alcohol and health, as many as 21 of them, especially those dealing with rehabilitation and help had been implemented. But Advocate Balu submitted that the Government’s tall claims remain only on paper while the reality remains different. He said even the 24/7 helpline number was defunct and failed to serve any purpose. 

This prompted the Chief Justice to ask the court clerk to dial the number. A practical check of it by dialling the 24/7 helpline number (10581) netted the response, “the line is temporarily disconnected”, leading to peals of laughter in the Court hall. Kaul observed, “It seems like the Tamil Nadu Government is implementing the WHO report on containing alcoholism in letter and not in spirit. 

The Chief Justice then directed the Government to form the committee at the earliest by roping in socially minded people and organisations to take the whole process forward. Pointing out that the government should accept that there is a problem owing to rampant alcoholism in the state, he asked the government to obtain statistics pertaining to age group of those who consume alcohol and also about those whose income, which is meant for the family gets lost in alcoholism.