Punjab Cong sticks to data on drug addicts
Tuesday, 30/06/2015
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=134289&boxid=58393&uid=&dat=2015-06-30
Chandigarh: Punjab Congress on Monday challenged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to refute the data on drug addicts provided by his own government through RTI and alleged that the “figures reinforce the charge that Badals distribute drugs during elections.” The party put into public domain the data on drug menace in Punjab since 2007. According to the latest information provided by the state government, 6,22,381 patients have approached de-addiction centres, a release by the Punjab Congress stated.
“It is a 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 people addicted to drugs,” the party’s RTI Cell chairman Dr Jasdeepak Singh said. The highest number of 1,22,271 drug addicts approached de-addiction Centre have been reported from Bathinda, the Lok Sabha constituency represented by Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said. “These figures also reinforce the charge that Badals distribute drugs during elections among voters”, Congress said. The party said that the facts were too well known to Badal and also the people who were patronising drug trade that involved a lot of money.
