Army continues efforts to curb heroin menace in Gurdaspur

The Army is continuing with its efforts to curb the menace of heroin in this border district where at least half a dozen drones carrying the drug enter the Indian airspace every week from Pakistan and drop the contraband in border villages.

The flying machines have ensured that the tentacles of drugs spread far and wide.

“The greatest glory of a human being is not in never falling, but in rising up every time we fall,” is the motto of awareness camps organised by officers of the Tibri cantonment.

Brig Vikramjit Singh Kochhar of the 86th Brigade, Tibri cantonment, and his wife Kamal Kochhar recently organised an awareness camp at the Army Public School. Such initiatives have become a regular feature in Gurdaspur district.

The event was held in partnership with the Red Cross De-addiction Centre.

Likewise, in October last year, Col RS Shekhawat of the 14th Jat regiment and Brig PS Sandhu had organised a series of seminars in local educational institutions. The first institute that the Army selected was the ITI, Gurdaspur, which is inhabited by students of small towns where the incidence of drugs is high. The Gurdaspur judiciary had also stepped in with District and Sessions Judge Rajinder Aggarwal taking an avid interest in stopping the flow of drugs.

Romesh Mahajan, Project Director, Red Cross De-addiction Centre, said residents and parents whose wards were hooked to heroin have appreciated the “labour and hard work” of the defence forces.

The BSF has reported that drones come regularly from across the border and drop packets of heroin in villages near the International Border (IB). An official said the focus of Pakistan-based smugglers had shifted to Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran because the defence forces had established a GPS jammer in Amritsar district which counters the drones, makes them ineffective and forces them to return.

“The situation in border villages is grim. Unobstructed drones drop packets of heroin from the sky at night. The BSF and Punjab Police are trying hard to counter these flying contraptions. The first port of call for these drones is the border villages. If we are unable to do anything about drones, we can at least battle addiction. The Army is doing a good job in helping humanity in times of crisis. Actually, youngsters get addicted to drugs to escape the harsh realities of life in this district where the number of jobless youths is increasing with every passing day,” said Mahajan.