Rehab centres turning torture units: Haryana Speaker Gian Chand Gupta

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Panchkula, May 6

Haryana Speaker Gian Chand Gupta today said he has taken up the matter of irregularities in a drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centre at Madawala village of Pinjore with Home and Health Minister Anil Vij, who has assured him of a vigilance inquiry into the case.

Gupta informed this while interacting with mediapersons at the Civil Hospital, Sector 6, where he had come to meet the patients who were rescued from three rehabilitation centres being run illegally in the district. Forty-three patients were rescued yesterday from the rehabilitation centres in Barwala, Mauli and Bataud.

Victims share ordeal

Patients, who were rescued from illegal rehabilitation centres, said they have got a new life. They said they were beaten up and tortured several times at the rehabilitation centres. Besides, they were forced to cook food and also do cleaning work at the centre. About 20 people were kept in a room. They were neither allowed to go out nor meet anyone. They were kept imprisoned in the room. The patients said there was neither any doctor nor any medicine given to them.

He said it was a matter of investigation who was protecting the operators of these centres. A special campaign should be launched to inspect all drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres operating in the state.

Gupta said he would soon meet Chief Minister Manohar Lal and request him to set up a 100-bedded de-addiction and rehabilitation centre in each district. Besides, de-addiction and rehabilitation centres being run by the private operators should be banned.

Expressing concern, the local MLA said he had observed instead of making people free from drugs, the illegal drug de-addiction centres were making them addicted to drugs.

He said similarly, rehabilitation centres were being converted into torture centres where patients were treated inhumanely. Gupta said during a surprise inspection of de-addiction and rehabilitation centre at Madawala village of Pinjore recently, he had found that certain medicines were being given to the patients which made them addicted to them.

Apart from this, banned medicines were given to patients without a doctor’s prescription. Also, the medicine which was available in the market for Rs 140, was being sold at the centre for Rs 390 per strip. Gupta said he found 20 to 25 persons at the centre who had become addicted to those medicines. Most of them were truck drivers and labourers, he added.