Cocktails, on the house: Kitchen taps in Indian town flow with BOOZE after well contamination mishap

Residents in one Indian town are abuzz after their kitchen taps began gushing with the hard stuff, with an ill-fated attempt by local officials to dispose of confiscated liquor turning one neighborhood into a speakeasy.

Apartment complex owner Joshy Maliyekkal was among the first to notice the strange brown liquid oozing from the taps at his flat in Chalakudy, which he first believed was caused by a rusting pipe.

“I had barely switched on my water pump to fill the overhead tank on Sunday afternoon when the sight of the water got me really scared,” Maliyekkal said, adding that the smell was “unmistakable,” only needing one taste to confirm that someone had “mixed copious amounts of alcohol with the water.”

Maliyekkal was not the only one to pick up on the boozy concoction pouring from the faucets, prompting residents to bring the issue to local authorities, who soon traced the bizarre incident to a government operation to discard of seized alcohol in the days prior, pouring 6,000 liters of brandy, beer and rum into a pit near the affected homes. From there, the volatile mix made its way into a well serving the apartment complex where Maliyekkal and 18 other families reside.

A local official, TK Sanu, told the Times of India that an alternative water supply had been arranged for those caught up in the mishap, and that the well in question had been cleaned eight times to remove all traces of alcohol from the water. He said the decision to dump the confiscated booze was made because the bottles were taking up too much storage space, but noted that more care should have been taken in disposing of the alcohol.

These bottles had been seized from bars whose licenses had been cancelled six years ago. We couldn't have known that our operation would raise such a stink.

All said and done, by all accounts nobody was harmed by the free cocktails, but some of the affected residents have filed complaints with the regional health department demanding action be taken against the officials behind the dumping operation.

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