Tricity periphery a drug haven

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 26

“I was addicted to heroin for the last five years and used to consume about half a gram daily. Since it was available for about Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per gram, my daily expenditure was around Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000. The contraband was easily available over the phone and I used to call the vendor, who used to supply me the drug.”

This was the revelation made by one of the seven drug addicts undergoing treatment at the de-addiction centre in General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Nidhi Bansal, today.

Bansal, who as the Secretary of the Panchkula District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), visited the centre this afternoon, was told by the drug addict that earlier he used to work as a driver and was able to spend money to buy the drug. But now, since he was jobless, he could not afford to buy the contraband, and had come to the centre for rehabilitation so that he could kick the drugs.

The drug addict told the CJM that there were around 15 vendors who supplied drugs in Panchkula.

Another drug addict, undergoing treatment at the centre, told Bansal that he was addicted to Proxyvon capsules and used to consume two strips of the capsules daily.

Though its maximum retail price was Rs 30 per strip, the vendor used to charge Rs 150 per strip from him as the Schedule H drug was not easily available without prescription at chemist shops.

He told the CJM that auto-rickshaw drivers at the Kalka bus stand openly sell these drugs and another outlet was located in a room near the Kalka bus stand.

Endorsing the statements of the drug addicts, Dr Rajeev Trehan, Senior Medical Officer (SMO), in-charge of the drug de-addiction centre, told the visiting District Judge that most drug addicts undergoing treatment at the centre had revealed that bhang and other narcotic drugs were being sold openly in the areas of Mani Majra, Baltana and Kalka.

Of the total seven drug addicts, aged between 15 and 35 years, who were admitted to the centre at present, most belonged to Pinjore, Kalka and Mani Majra while one each was from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. “Most patients are addicted to heroin and cannabis,” the CJM was told. Taking serious note of the revelations, Bansal took up the matter with the Panchkula DCP and the Narcotics and Drugs Departments for initiating immediate action in the matter.

Orphanage gets grant, special kids society renovated

Following the directions of the CJM-cum-Secretary, DLSA, Nidhi Bansal, the District Child Protection Society has rectified the shortcomings observed at Ashiana orphanage in Sector 16, Panchkula, and the Director, Women and Child Development, Haryana, has released the grant-in-aid, awaited for year 2015-16. Also, the renovation work at the welfare society for hearing and speech impaired children in Raipur Rani has begun.