Drug Hotspots: In Moga village, 400 booked for smuggling in 3 decades

Tribune News Service

Kulwinder Sandhu

Moga, November 22

Daulewala Mayer, a village located 32 km from the district headquarters of Moga, was once infamous for the smuggling of illicit liquor, poppy husk and opium but over the past few decades, it has become a hotspot for the sale of heroin, smack and synthetic drugs.

Even police raids meant to control the menace have failed to tame local residents.

The geographical area of the village is 581 hectares. There are about 535 houses. It has a total population of 3,500 people. The literacy rate of this village is 49.05 per cent.

More than 400 persons, including 70 women, have been booked on the charges of smuggling drugs and liquor in the past three decades. The in-charge of the Daulewala police post, Sub-Inspector Lakhwinder Singh, told The Tribune that in the past two months, at least 10 FIRs related to the smuggling of drugs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act have been registered against 15 residents of the village. Presently, more than 50 residents, including 10 women, were languishing in the jails either convicted or facing trial in drug cases, the police official said. At least, 30 residents were absconding or declared as proclaimed offenders by various courts.

But, the Sarpanch of the village, Sukhwinder Singh, claimed that local residents were slowly changing their lives and shedding the tag of drug hub. He said it could be well-judged from the fact that more than 400 people were languishing in jails on the charges of drug peddling about 10-15 years back, but now less than 50 people of his village were in jails and also more than 100 people had been acquitted from the charge of smuggling during the same period, he said.

He said local residents desired to leave the drug trade, but neither the state government nor the local police were serious and sensitive about changing the lives of people.

“In most of the cases, the local police unnecessarily pick up residents and register false cases. Even those who come out of the jail after years of imprisonment are arrested again in false cases,” he claimed.

Baba Avtar Singh, a self-styled head of a local gurdwara and a former member of the Zila Parishad, said, “The situation has turned alarming with the increase in chitta smuggling, which had claimed many lives in the past few years.”

“We have worked in coordination with the local administration and the police but failed to motivate all families to bring them out of this menace. There are not more than 20 families which are into the smuggling of drugs. They do not have any other source of income. They are landless. No one has a job in their house. Therefore, out of compulsion, they are selling drugs to make both ends meet. The government must either give jobs to them or allot some land to them for farming,” he said.

He said, “If the government seriously wants to end the smuggling of drugs in this village, then the families involved in this illegal business should be made self-sustainable to bring them out of this menace.”

Some of the families of Daulewala Mayer village are so poor that they do not even get two meals a day. The gurdwara provides ‘langar’ to feed them daily. “The basic problem is poverty, which has driven most of the families into the illegal business,” Baba Avtar Singh said.

Rajinder Singh, a resident of the village, too, claimed that drug smuggling was directly linked with poverty. More than 1,500 residents of this village were illiterate while others did not get quality education. He said, “There are 14 sanctioned posts of teacher in Government High School but only five posts have been filled. How can you expect that children will get quality education in such a scenario?”

Most of the people with whom this correspondent interacted with claimed not everyone in the village was involved in the drug trade. Only a section was involved but it had brought a bad name for the entire village, they said.

50 villagers behind bars at present

• At least 10 FIRs under the NDPS Act have been registered against 15 residents of Daulewala Mayer village, said the police
• Over 50 residents, including 10 women, are languishing in jails, either convicted or facing trial in drug cases
• At least, 30 residents are absconding or have been declared proclaimed offenders by various courts

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