Patiala, March 16
Come April and officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) will surely want to cover their official 2013 calendar for ace boxer Vijender Singh, facing probe in the recent heroin haul case, features on it giving an anti-drug message.

Vijender is among 12 internationally acclaimed Indian youth sportsmen figuring on NCB’s first-ever table calendar released and distributed to various ministries, government offices and states earlier this year. The NCB comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The boxer’s photograph on April page comes with a social message: “Drug abuse is a major challenge to the wellbeing of our society and nation. Just say ‘NO’.”

Perturbed at Vijender’s name figuring in the recent drug seizure case, the NCB officials are desperate to stop further circulation of their calendar and ensure that “a decision to this effect is taken by Monday”.

Senior officials in the NCB admit that the bureau’s image will take a hit with boxer’s photograph figuring on its calendar, but there is little they can do now to minimise the damage as the calendar has already been circulated.

“We will not display the calendar at our office in April and ensure that no more calendars are circulated,” an official said.

The calendar is available on the NCB website and can be downloaded.

Other sportspersons featuring on the calendar are: shuttler Saina Nehwal (January), chess champion Vishwanathan Anand (February), woman boxer Mary Kom (March), cricketer Suresh Raina (May), wrestler Sushil Kumar (June), shooter Gagan Narang (July), wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, archer Deepika Kumari (September), shooter Vijay Kumar (October), billiards champion Pankaj Arjan Advani (November) and hockey player Sandeep Singh (December). Each one has an anti-drug message for public.

“Vijender was chosen for this campaign as he is a youth icon and has enjoyed a spotless sporting career so far,” said NCB zonal director AK Yadav, but admitted that Vijender’s refusal to give his hair and blood samples had not helped his cause.

“The dropping of Vijender’s name by a fellow boxer over alleged consumption of heroin has surely damaged his reputation,” he said.

Yadav added that he had apprised his seniors of the matter and a final decision on the calendar would be taken on Monday.