No doctor and in-charge, de-addiction centre in Kangra needs urgent care

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, February 28

The lone drug de-addiction centre at Nurpur being run by the Kangra district Red Cross Society is in a state of utter neglect. Though a number of private centres have been set up in the Nurpur and Indora sub-divisions of Kangra district, the state government has turned a blind eye to this de-addiction and rehabilitation centre.

Unsafe for staff

The environment is unsafe as the staff is always under a threat of being attacked by the inmates, who turn aggressive on being denied drugs or intoxicants. — Akhil Bakshi, Director of local NGO

No security guards

Only one counsellor, one cook has been deployed here. No safai karamchari and daytime security arrangements have been made. — Karan Singh, Acting in-charge

Set up during the previous Congress regime and inaugurated by then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in 2017, the centre lacks basic facilities required for smooth and effective functioning.

As the centre is located near the inter-state borders of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and, Jammu and Kashmir, where drug trafficking is on the rise, the demand for better facilities and deployment of more staff has been gaining momentum.

Surprisingly, the centre has no permanent doctor or psychiatrist and there is no arrangement for deploying any on-call doctor or a paramedic in cases of emergency, but a temporary arrangement has been made to visit a psychiatrist once a month. Two security guards are deployed at the centre during night whereas there is no security arrangement during daytime. Recently, an inmate attacked the cook, raising concerns over the security of the staff working at the centre.

No vocational course is being run to assist the staff in helping the inmates regain confidence and enhance their quality life.

In the absence of adequate number of beds and facilities for the inmates, their families are forced to admit them in private de-addiction centres set up in other parts of Nurpur or outside the state. Most of the inmates at this centre are from Chamba, Hamirpur districts and Dehra sub-division of Kangra district.

Set up in the OBC hostel building, the centre can admit 10 addicts at a time, but its full capacity could never be used for want of requisite staff and facilities. The suicide by a 64-year-old man alcohol addict in 2019 and alleged murder of an inmate in March last year had put a question mark on the safety of inmates and the staff deployed at the centre.

After reviewing the condition of the centre yesterday, local NGO RB Jankalyan Foundation has announced plans to provide a washing machine, protein rich diet for one month and beddings for the inmates of the centre. Director of the foundation Akhil Bakshi lamented that living conditions in this government-run drug de-addiction centre were as per the norms of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. “The working environment is unsafe as the staff is always under a threat of being attacked by the inmates, who turn aggressive on being denied synthetic drugs or intoxicants,” he added.

The local social and voluntary organisations have demanded to hand over the de-addiction centre to the state Health Department and equip it with the requisite infrastructure.

Pharmacist and acting in-charge Karan Singh told The Tribune that the post of in-charge in the centre had been lying vacant since 2020 and only one counsellor, one cook and two security guards were deployed here by the district Red Cross Society. “No safai karamchari and daytime security arrangements have been made at the centre,” he added. Enquiries reveal that only Rs 7,000 is being paid to the pharmacist and counsellor, whereas the cook and security guards are being paid Rs 6,000 per month.