Challenging Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on the drug menace in the State, the Punjab Congress on Monday asked him to “stop resorting to utter lies as the data with his Government on this problem contradicted him”.On the basis of the information gathered on the drug menace in the State under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Congress party threw open challenge to Badal to “refute the figures supplied by his own Government or tender apology”.The party alleged that the “figures reinforce the charge that Badals distribute drugs during elections”.The party’s RTI Cell chairman Jasdeepak Singh has procured data on the drug menace in the State since 2007.
As per the information, the number of patients who have approached the de-addiction centres is more than six lakhs (6,22,381).“It is an established fact that only a small portion of people approach de-addiction centres. This figure can safely be multiplied by five to arrive at the rough estimate of the people addicted to drugs. Badal should tell the people in the State as to how many people who approached these centres are addicted to heroin which is smuggled from Pakistan as he has been blaming smuggling from across the border,” said Jasdeepak Singh.
He said that ironically, the highest number 1,22,271 of drug addicts who approached de-addiction centre have been reported from Bathinda, the lok Sabha constituency represented by the Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Badal, wife of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.“It seems Bathinda is one district where drugs are most easily available and this is not possible without patronage from those in the ruling party. Nothing moves in this lok Sabha constituency without a nod from the Badal family. These figures also reinforce the charge that Badals distribute drugs during elections among voters,” he said.
The party said that the facts were too well known to Badal, and “it is for this reason that he kept mum when Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh raised this issue from the Akali Dal stage on June 19 at Anandpur Sahib”.“Entire information is available with the Union Home Minister which Badal dare not challenge. This might be the reason that Badal is facing humiliation repeatedly at the hands leaders from the alliance partner BJP repeatedly on this issue,” the party added.Now, the data is supplied by their own Government which pointed to the gravity of situation in the State.
