Illegal de-addiction centre sealed in Amritsar; 8 rescued

Tribune News Service
Amritsar, November 14

A team of district health officials today sealed an unauthorised drug de-addiction centre being run from Rajewala village in the Jandiala block and rescued eight admitted patients.

The patients were later shifted to government-run Swami Vivekananda Drug De-addiction Centre at Government Medical College here.

The team led by Assistant Civil Surgeon Dr Kirandeep Kaur raided the centre “Ek Parivartan” being run from an old home in the village.

The team members found all inmates locked in a room secured with iron grills. Civil Surgeon Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai said as per preliminary investigation they found that the centre was being run by Sukhwinder Singh Luthra.

However, the team was not able to contact him or know about his whereabouts. The team members said only employee at the centre was an aged chowkidar, who too slipped after the raid.

An inmate of the Hathi gate area said, “Our parents were paying Rs 10,000 for the stay and treatment. We were given poor quality food. Mostly we were given rice without any vegetable or dal.” He alleged that all inmates were beaten up mercilessly a month ago.

Another inmate from the Jandiala Guru area said the owner treated them badly. “We were forced to clean the premises and cook food. No medicines were given for treatment. However, tobacco and bidis were made available to inmates.”

Dr Ghai said the centre was not registered with the department and did not hold the mandatory licence to treat such patients.

He said the centre had been sealed and the police station concerned had been asked to register an FIR against the owners.

Dr Ghai said people should avail the de-addiction and rehabilitation facilities from government-run centres as they have trained manpower, medicines and infrastructure to deal with the issue. He said people could also give information about any such centre being run in their area.