Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, led by the leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Sukhpal Khaira and party’s state co-president Dr Balbir Singh, on Wednesday visited the families of drug victims in Kotkapura, Tarn Taran and Amritsar, who lost their lives due to injecting overdose of drugs that went viral on social media.
Khaira, at the same time, dared the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to repeat his oath under Gutka Sahib if he has actually eradicated drugs, else apologize to the people of the state.
Expressing deep sympathy with the families of the youths, Khaira lambasted Capt Amarinder for having failed to honour his oath under Gutka Sahib, promising to finish drugs within four weeks of assuming power.
“The recent shocking deaths of youth that went viral on social media are only a tip of the iceberg of drug menace in Punjab. large number of youth is dying every day due to abundant availability of drugs but since it’s a social stigma, parents often hide the cause of death of their children,” he said.
Khaira said that if a fair survey is undertaken by independent agencies, the number of drug related deaths would be shocking.
BJP lashes out at Govt.
Taking a strong exception to the incident of a former army man beaten up allegedly by “drug mafia”, Punjab BJP on Wednesday lambasted the Congress Government for its failure to initiate effective measures to deal with the drugs problem.
Notably, a former army man Jasbir Singh in Tara Taran was brutally beaten up and his legs were broken allegedly by the “drug mafia” on Tuesday. Subsequently, Jasbir Singh wrote a letter in his blood to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh asking him to ‘wake up’ and act against the drug menace in the state.
“Drugs are openly being sold in Punjab, people are dying of drug overdose, doctors and medicines are not available in rehabilitation centres, smugglers are running drugs racket from jails, drug peddlers are attacking the police and Congress MlAs Surjit Dhiman and Harminder Singh Gill stand testimony to it and a solider is thrashed by drug mafia for raising his voice. All this proves that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who had come into power after taking an oath to end the drug menace within a month of assuming office, has failed to tackle the issue of drug abuse,” said the former BJP national secretary Harjit Singh Grewal and Joshi Foundation chairman Vineet Joshi.
Joshi said: “Not only people are dying due to drug overdose, but addicts are committing suicides when they don’t get drugs, they have even murdered their parents. Some have even caused fatal accidents on roads while driving on a high.”
SAD asks Punjab CM to resign
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) asked Capt Amarinder Singh to resign in the wake of grave allegations of “utter failure and even complicity of the government in the drug menace in the state”.
“The sensational disclosures made by Rana Gurjit Singh on the drug menace have come as a brutal shock to every Punjabi. These disclosures are also the strongest evidence of the utter failure of the Congress government in Punjab, proving beyond doubt that the state is in the grip of the law of the jungle,” said SAD’s senior vice president and spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema.
He said that it was the strongest indictment of the Congress government that someone of the stature of Rana Gurjit Singh is openly declaring that ‘there is no one in the government to listen to the grievances and problems raised by even senior leaders’.
Meanwhile, Congress’ senior leader and former Minister Rana Gurjeet Singh on Wednesday assured action against the guilty cops who allegedly pushed a girl into drug addiction.
“During my visit to a women drug rehabilitation centre in Kapurthala along with the Health Minister Brahm Mohindra on Tuesday, one of the inmates told me that one police official of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police was responsible for pushing her into drugs,” said Rana
Rana Gurjeet maintained that the Capt Amarinder Singh government has effectively controlled the scourge of drugs during the last one and a half year.
Rana Gurjeet expressed grief over the loss of lives to drugs. At the same time, he assured that strict measures taken by the government have brought the situation under control.