Ajnala can not do without daily fix

Amritsar : Rise in the number of drug addicts in the last couple of years in Ajnala subdivision of Amritsar district and failure of law enforcing authorities to check the menace is irking village elders. “The easy availability of smack in the area is a matter of concern,“ Desa Singh, an elderly farmer, said while interacting with health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla during a function at the village health centre on Wednesday. He brought up the issue on the growing addiction of youth to smack when Chawla asked the women present whether their husbands harassed them when they objected to their drinking habits. “Drug addiction is more dangerous than liquor,“ said sarpanch Kartar Singh. Mincing no words, Desa Singh said that the government probably lacked the will power to come down on drug smugglers and peddlers. He alleged that certain leaders themselves were involved in the drug business. “If the government and officials want, they can effectively tackle this menace that is ruining our youth,“ he said with the health minister all ears. Desa Singh revealed that he had taken up this issue with senior officials. All he got from them were assurances but the situation has remained the same and the number of addicts is on the rise. The health minister told the village residents that she had been highlighting this issue at various platforms and opposed the increasing number of liquor vends in the state. She heaved a sign of relief when sarpanch Kartar Singh told her that there was just one liquor vend in this village, the largest in Ajnala subdivision, with a population of around 10,000. The sarpanch also told her that as of now there were only four drug addicts in the village but the number could grow if the government failed to provide employment to the educated youth. “The residents here prefer brewing their own liquor than going to the village vend,“ the sarpanch said rather proudly. “Bibiji, your government has given us liberty while, during the Congress rule, the henchmen of the contractor who owned the liquor vends in the area used to worry us,“ he told the minister.