R’sthan poppy husk contractors move high court for re-opening of vends

Gurdeep Singh Mann

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 27

Despite facing losses to the tune of over Rs 30 crore a year, more than 50 poppy husk contractors are now seeking the re-opening of the closed vends in Rajasthan.

They have moved separate petitions in the Rajasthan High Court in Jaipur against the Chandigarh-based NGO ArriveSAFE.

Earlier, the Rajasthan High Court had imposed a ban on the Rs 100 crore business of poppy husk in Rajasthan. It has given much-awaited respite to Punjab residents who accused Rajasthan of smuggling this drug into Punjab.

NGO president Harman Singh Sidhu said that the demand of re-opening the poppy husk vends despite incurring losses shows that the vend owners are directly or indirectly involved in the smuggling of poppy husk to nearby states like Punjab and Haryana.

He said that the documents submitted in court by the Rajasthan Excise and Taxation Department shows that the yearly revenue of poppy husk vend owners is into losses.

“The yearly quantity permitted by the Rajasthan Excise Department for sale of poppy husk in the state is 16,937.5 quintals for 19,296 registered drug addicts,” Sidhu said.

He said that the entire yearly quantity of poppy husk costs Rs 88 crore to the contractors after paying the annual licence fee (bidding etc), excise fee of Rs 35 per kg and buying of poppy from farmers for Rs 125 per kg and other expenses.

“But the contractors’ gross income from the sale of poppy husk is a mere Rs 58 crore in a year,” Sidhu said.

He alleged that this calculation shows that the contractors are actually facing losses on paper by selling the entire poppy husk to the registered drug addicts of Rajasthan. To make huge profits, they would instead smuggle it from Rajasthan to Punjab or Haryana.