Drug Hotspots: Despite police raids, dope still available in urban, rural areas of Gurdaspur

Ravi Dhaliwal

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Gurdaspur, November 28

In Gurdaspur, the hotspots of Deeda Sansian and Awankha villages have become problematic areas for the police. Here, villagers have been in the bootlegging and drug smuggling business for generations. The cops have realised that these smugglers have spread their tentacles far and wide and hence it is not possible to root them out in one stroke.

An addict in every third household

In rural Gurdaspur, there is a poppy husk or opium addict in every third household. Fearing a social stigma, these people seldom visit rehabilitation centres. It means they have no option except to continue using dope. An officer engaged in eradicating the scourge

Early this month, keeping in view the magnitude of the problem in these two hamlets, IG (Border) Mohnish Chawla himself led a raid, one of the 100 odd ‘search and seize’ operations carried out in recent weeks. These peddlers, whenever they are caught, are back in business after a few days due to lax excise laws.

Gurdaspur SSP Deepak Hilori said 239 FIRs were registered in this district and 350 persons arrested since January 1, the highest ever in the last decade. Incidentally, a majority of the FIRs are against residents of these two hamlets. “In rural Gurdaspur, there is a poppy husk or opium addict in every third household. Fearing a social stigma, these people seldom visit rehabilitation centres. This means they have no option except to continue using dope. You can get the monkey off your back but the circus will never leave town. Even if a youngster comes clean after rehabilitation, the drug seller will continue to knock on his door. Hence, making villages drug free is an insurmountable task,” said an officer engaged in eradicating the scourge.

He added that drug-free villages exist only on paper. Practically, it is not possible.

BSF officers admit that smuggling by Pakistani state actors using high-tech drones has the potential to wreak havoc. Officers say it is high time the BSF develops an anti-drone mechanism. And the gaps at the International Border (IB) from where drugs are pushed inside India should be plugged. Right now, in the absence of any effective mechanism, for every kg of dope seized by the BSF, 50 kg reaches New Delhi, Rajasthan and Goa.

An SSP rank officer, preferring anonymity, said he had a solution. “Once when I was the police chief, I called a meeting of all SHOs where I made it clear that even if a small quantity of drugs is found in their areas of operation, I will suspend them. The area became drug-free within a week. Why cannot present day police chiefs ask their SHOs to do the same? They cannot do so because SHOs report to MLAs and AAP halqa in-charges. That is where the crux of the problem lies,” he said.

This, in itself, is a telling indictment of the state government’s much hyped battle against drugs.