Punjab defamed unnecessarily on drugs, says Sukhbir

Deepkamal Kochhar

Tribune News Service

Tanda, (Hoshiarpur), June 30

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said the problem of drugs in Punjab was not as acute and the state was being defamed unnecessarily.

Citing reports of a third death at a police recruitment drive in Kurukshetra due to suspected overdose of performance-enhancing drugs, the Deputy Chief Minister said as many as 6.5 lakh youth would be turning up for police recruitment that would get underway on July 5 in Punjab.

“Every youth would have to undergo Dope tests. Everyone will get to know whether there is any drug problem, as was being projected by certain political parties, out of sheer vested political interests. In my opinion, the recruitment would in itself be the biggest survey to find out whether there is any drug problem. I still maintain that Punjab is the least affected in the entire country,” he said.