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Punjab On A High II
The swath is bigger, count pharma in
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 1
The regional office of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has been successful in proving the police-drug mafia nexus. After a brief surveillance over certain suspects holding key field positions in the Union Territory police, the Bureau arrived at conclusions that are shocking. Six of them have not only been suspended, but were summoned by the Bureau under Section 67, NDPS Act.

Kabaddi ruse

Reacting to The Tribune investigation on the problem of drugs in Punjab,Union sports minister Manohar Singh Gill has expressed deep concern over the menace in Punjab.

“Unfortunately, the menace is tightening its grip over the youth of Punjab. I am even more concerned that it has not spared sports. There appears to be a definite link between sports, such as kabaddi, and drugs. Kabaddi links of India with Canada and England need to be cleaned up with full force. The police must be made to do its duty well,” he said.

The Chandigarh police-drug mafia nexus is only tip of the iceberg. The situation is far more alarming both in Punjab and Haryana where law and order agencies face serious accusations of abetting, supporting and even protecting the drug mafia.

Many who hold the remote control to the fast-flourishing drug trade in the region not only hold respectable positions in society, but also have their close kith and kin holding key positions both in the civil administration and the police. It is one reason why the state law and order agencies refrain from making public names, addresses and pictures of proclaimed offenders known to be behind the drugs trade.

It is perhaps lack of coordination between the state police and the NCB on one hand and the Border Security Force and the NCB on the other that makes things easier for drug traders to dodge the state agencies.

The NCB works as an umbrella agency that reportedly keeps an eye on the activities of inter-state and international players leaving the task of apprehending local players to the police. Recent seizures of huge quantities of cocaine, heroin or smack have primarily been because of intelligence gathered by the Bureau men by use of advanced technological aids and devices.

Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat remain most vulnerable because of their proximity to Pakistan. Afghanistan continues to be the main source of supply that is routed through Pakistan and drug smugglers always look for “porous” or “left uncovered areas” to siphon off consignments to their counterparts in India. It is here where the BSF comes in for the blame. And once it has reached safer havens in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan or Gujarat, the contraband is safely moved to its immediate distributor, both for supplies within and outside the country using all - air, road transport and water channels - communication means. Tip-offs and timely intervention of networks of suspects are credited with seizures that are only 2 to 5 per cent of the total contraband in circulation. How such huge quantities are moved safely to desired destinations is anybody’s guess.

There are changing patterns in the consumption of drugs also. For the rich or affluent, opium is no more a favourite. A recent report suggested that the number of people who draw their quota of opium from the state authorised vends has been on the decline. Instead, they have graduated to heroin, cocaine or smack which are available at prices varying between Rs 800 to Rs 2,000 a gm depending upon the quality of the drug.

For poor, especially farm workers, labourers, industrial workers and others, bhukki or poppy husk and charas continue to be the popular and affordable drugs.

And the youth, especially teenagers, these are the psychotropic or chemical drugs that have become a craze. Ecstasy, for example, is a drug that has been a recent hit as it gives the consumer a “great feeling of well being or happiness”.

Dr Rajiv Gupta, a psychiatrist in Ludhiana, tells The Tribune that pharmaceutical companies are equally to be blamed for the growing malaise of drug addiction. “It is not the police alone but also the agencies that control production and sale of drugs.

“Rural Punjab has three to five times more chemist shops than doctors there. Lomotil, which is basically an anti-diarrhoea drug, has been popular among teenagers. Instead of strips of 10 tablets each, now the companies are coming out with pouches of 100 tablets each. Same is the case with proxyvon capsules that are also available in pouches of 100 capsules each. The sale of such drugs has witnessed astronomical increase in rural Punjab,” says Dr Gupta.

“It is not only the problem of addiction but serving as a root cause of several other serious social disorders, including rapidly rising incidence of domestic violence, thefts, burglaries and stabbings for want of money to buy drugs. And above all, parents of grown-up girls find it really hard to find a suitable groom who are free from the menace of drug addiction,” adds Dr Gupta.

(To be concluded)

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