Badal village centre proves a failure
Friday, 26/06/2015
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BATHINDA: The de-addiction centre opened last year at Badal village has proved a failure.
Badal’s Lambi constituency not only touches Rajasthan border but it is also a gateway of the illegal trafficking of drugs, especially poppy husk and opium from the vends in Rajasthan into Punjab. A poppy husk vend in Haripura village of Rajasthan is just at a kilometre distance from Kandu Khera village of Lambi.
The failure of the Punjab police to stop this trafficking is one of the reasons behind closure of the drug-de-addiction centres opened at Badal village just one year ago on June 20.
The centre was one of the measures taken in haste by the Punjab government to curb drug menace after facing criticism in 2014. The centre ran successfully for two months, however patients started decreasing soon after the Rajasthan government again turned eyes away from the vends near the Punjab border and allowing them to do the illegal trade.
When asked about the reasons behind the failure, Dr Rohit Jindal, in-charge of the de-addiction centre, said, “Reopening of the vends in Rajasthan is one of the reasons. Vends were closed when this centre was launched and we saw a heavy rush. It is possible that the addicts again started visiting vends after they were reopened for them.”
