Lost 5 of family, he wants menace rooted out

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, July 8

Rajinder Singh Binda, a local tractor-trailer operator, who lost five members of his family, including his father, to drugs in the last about two decades, has appealed to people to put in joint efforts and adopt a zero-tolerance approach to root out the menace. He has also urged the state government to take stringent action against peddlers.

Binda, a native of Bura Gujjar road here, said his father Darshan Singh was the first in the family who became a victim of drugs. He died in 1998 at the age of 38. A year later, his maternal uncle passed away due to drugs. He was in his mid-thirties.

His two uncles (younger brothers of his father), both addicts, died in 2010 and 2014, respectively. One of his cousins also lost his life to drugs in 2013. He was 32.

Narrating the heartrending story of his family, Binda said: “We are paying the price for mistakes of our family members. We have lost five of them. My father had sold his land at Rupana village and went to Rajasthan at the insistence of some relative. He later got addicted to drugs and died within years at the age of 38. Gradually, four more of our family lost their life to drugs.”

“They were all hooked to poppy and opium. I am not sure whether they died due to adulterated substance or overdose, but they were all young. Now, no one in our family even consumes liquor. Addiction not just destroys the addict, but the entire family. I thus appeal to all who are hooked to drugs to shun the habit. The government must also act swiftly and take hard measures against peddlers,” said Binda.

His mother Gurpreet Kaur said: “We don’t need any financial help from the government, but it must do its bit to check the menace. Drugs have been claiming a substantial number of lives, but the successive state governments have not done anything to stop the supply.”