Anti-drug village chooses ‘clean’ candidate

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 22

The campaign started against drugs by residents of Dyalpur village here has made its way into the block samiti poll, the results of which were announced today.

“No to money and drugs” was the slogan of the campaign at the village, ahead of the poll, which has claimed their village stood true to the promise of supporting a candidate who would not allow liquor or money to flow in the elections.

Dyalpur resident Congress candidate Nirmala Devi has won the block samiti poll of the Bhikha Nangal block defeating her SAD rival Kulwinder Kaur. Wife of Karnail Singh, who works at a local cold storage, Nirmala, who belongs to the Valmiki community, was Dyalpur villagers’ pick to ensure a ‘fair’ election.

While Dyalpur has hogged the limelight for being a rare village of the state which has been able to eradicate drugs on the sheer will of its residents, over 45 addicts of the village (over a 100 addicts from nearby villages, including neighbouring Hamira, known as the local addiction hub) have been put on drug de-addiction treatment with the will of the village panchayat.

Karnail Singh, who is also a panch of the village, said: “All villages have seen the flow of liquor or drugs. Nearby Hamira was also affected. Ours was the cleanest campaign and my wife was not a political pick but a choice of people.”

Five villages fall under the Bhikha Nangal block samiti — Dhirpur, Kuddowal, Malliyan, Bhikha Nangal and Dyalpur. In Dyalpur village also, Nirmala won a majority.

Sarpanch of the village Paramjit Singh said: “The fight of people of the area is against drugs and the campaign in the election was also against drugs. We are not stopping here. This issue will be raised by us in every election. We also plan to field area do-gooder Harjinder Singh Raja as the sarpanch candidate in the future poll as he has mobilised the entire village against the drug menace. Now, even an candidate propagating this very message has been elected. It’s a big triumph for us.”

In the past, Harjinder had found that 40 per cent of the youth of the village, having a population of 4,000, had become addicts. Harjinder’s cousin too died due to addiction in 2015. Since then, he started a campaign against drugs.