Social activists worried as drug menace not on parties’ agenda

Sushil Goyal

Sangrur, May 4

There is a consensus among social activists that the acute problem of drug abuse is not part of the main agenda of political parties contesting the Lok Sabha elections. The activists have voiced their concerns, saying despite a rise in the number of deaths due to drug overdose, no political party found the problem serious enough to be highlighted and tackled.

Mohan Sharma, social activist and a former project director of Red Cross Drug De-addiction Centre (Sangrur), says that over the years, political parties have highlighted the drug menace just to gain power in the state by attracting voters. The problem continues unabated as no steps have been taken by the politicians to contain the problem all these years. However, in the ensuing elections, the issue does not even find mention in the parties’ agenda.

He said the state government claimed that it would earn thousands of crores of rupees in a year from liquor sale. “It is not an achievement!” he said. The claim was condemnable as on an average, there were 16 widows in every village in the state, he said.

Another social activist, AS Mann, who is the president of Scientific Awareness and Social Welfare Forum in Sangrur, said the drug menace was a matter of grave concern but no political party had taken up the matter at a large scale during campaigning. He said due to the easy availability of drugs, the youth were easily falling prey to the menace. He added that a drug addict’s mother recently told him that now drugs were more easily available in villages than past.

Surinder Singla said political parties should give guarantee to the people during their election campaign. The political parties were not serious about the matter, and they only wanted power by giving false promises, he added.

Sarbjit Singh Raikhy, chairman of Sahara Foundation (Sangrur), expressed his worry over the issue of drugs. He said the issue of drugs is not on the priority list of the political parties. This is the reason that during the current LS elections, the political parties have forgotten it while the politicians are busy in mud-slinging against each other, he said.

Raj Kumar Arora, president of Sangrur Social Welfare Association, says it seems that for the political persons, the problem of drugs is insignificant, due to which they have not been making it a major issue in the election campaign. He urged them to make it a part of their election campaign to save the youth from ruin. He also wants a time-bound firm commitment from them to check the menace of drugs to save the future generation.

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