War on drugs shouldn’t be political stunt: Jodhan residents

“If their villages have become free of drugs, why should they urge Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal to establish more OOAT (Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment) centres in the region,” argues Harnek Singh of Jodhan village in a Sath, a day after the Punjab CM chaired a state-level Nasha Mukt Yatra function at Mansuran village in Ludhiana district.

Harnek Singh further said that the government should not restrict the fight against drugs only to leaders and activists of AAP, but also involve people genuinely interested in the eradication of drugs.

Several women, who attended the function according to the wishes of their leaders, could not explain what the function was about. “We don’t know what the function was about,” said a group of women from Pamal village, who had to walk in scorching heat from the venue at Mansuran village to Jodhan bus stop at the conclusion of the function on Saturday. “Bhagwan (Bhagwant ) Mant ( Mann) is coming, we were told,” responded the leader of the group.

General secretary of Bhaie Lalo Lok Manch and former legislator Tarsem Jodhan termed the event as an exercise to derive political mileage at the cost of government exchequer. “Even if we don’t doubt the Chief Minister’s intention to make the state drug-free, we can’t trust the administration’s integrity till the alleged nexus between the drug mafia, politicians and bureaucrats is broken,” said Jodhan, regretting that he had to seek the intervention of the High Court and the Supreme Court in getting cases registered against liquor barons to reach its logical end.

Alleging that several activists had attended the event after consuming drugs and narcotics, Jodhan said that one person was found lying under the influence of drugs a small distance away from a barricade laid near the venue of the function.

Residents of Narangwal Kalan village, which has been declared as the epicentre of this coercive action against drug peddlers, remained tight-lipped on the ground reality, acknowledging that several persons were facing cases registered under the NDPS Act.

Balraz Singh Bazzi, a social activist, said similar action should also be initiated against more ‘influential’ persons involved in the illicit trade of drug peddlers.

Bazzi said the government should have organised the function at some spacious venue in Narangwal village so that the common people could also attend.

“While choosing a venue for the function, the organisers failed to assess the inconvenience and harassment caused to hundreds of commuters using Pakhowal-Ludhiana, Ahmedgarh-Jodhan and Dehlon-Jodhan roads,” said Bazzi, regretting that among those harassed were patients and the elderly who were forced to opt for alternative routes.