PM’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ on drugs mere wish-list: Amarinder
Monday, 15/12/2014
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Chandigarh: Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ on drugs should have been more action oriented than just a wish-list.
“The prime minister must set the agenda and tell the nation what he plans to do and not just what should be done,” he remarked while reacting to prime minister’s address to the nation on the radio on Sunday morning.
Amarinder, however, welcomed the prime minister’s concern about the scourge of drugs the country is confronted with.
“Who can feel the pain more than us in Punjab where an entire generation has been threatened,” he asked, while underlining the devastation caused by drug addiction in Punjab. “It is good that the issue has attracted the attention of the prime minister and I hope that the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ will not end up in the heart only, but will be taken to its logical conclusion,” he remarked.
The former chief minister pointed out, that he has been insisting for a National Drug Policy as different states have different laws regarding the drugs, which makes the pedalling easy. He said in a state like Madhya Pradesh opium was allowed to be grown while in Rajasthan it was allowed to be traded and a neighbouring state like Punjab becomes a fertile market.
“We have seen sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and their entire families getting devastated,” he said in an emotional note, adding, “In Amritsar, the area I represent in Parliament there is a village of widows with 90 per cent of women losing their husbands to drugs.” Besides, he said a leading national daily had quoted a survey revealing that 70 per cent of the youth contacted in Punjab had tried drugs at least once in their life. Amarinder said that there were multiple aspects to the supply and availability of drugs. There were those coming from Pakistan and Afghanistan, those coming from the states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and also produced locally for a cheap price.
