The din over the recent spat involving Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij and then Superintendent of Police Sangeeta Kalia has pushed the wider question of unauthorised sale of liquor, narcotics and drug formulations to the back burner.
Many youths in the Ratia subdivision of Fatehabad are addicted to several types of intoxication because of unbridled sale of drugs, drug formulations and liquor.
Many villages of Ratia share their boundary with Punjab.
The liquor trade in Fatehabad is controlled by two MLAs of the INLD, while the sale of liquor, drugs and “medical nasha” is allegedly controlled by some BJP leaders in the Ratia area.
Before the spat began, Vij had said in the meeting that he wanted to build an “iron-gate” between Haryana villages and Punjab to protect state’s youth against falling prey to drug addiction. “This is unfortunate that the minister-SP spat has shifted the focus from the main issue — sale of drugs and liquor in border villages,” said Mandeep Nathwan, president of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Naujwan Sabha in Ratia today.
“BJP workers, some of them office-bearers of the ruling party, are responsible for the illicit sale of liquor and other intoxicants in Alika, Nagpur and other villages close to the border,” he alleged.
Nathwan’s grievances had sparked the row as the minister got agitated when the SP asked the complainant whether he ever came to her office to file any complaint. “When our organisation has sent complaints through registered letters to the CM, Deputy Commissioner and the SP, where is the need for me to meet officials personally for my complaint?” Nathwan said.
Fatehabad district is without a full-time Drug Control Officer (DCO) for the past 18 months. As per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, the police can act against medicine shop owners only in the presence of a DCO.
Bharat Bhushan Midha, district president of the BJP admitted that some members or office-bearers of the party were found indulging in such activities. However, the party never supported them, he said.
“We have even divested a party worker of his post after finding that he was involved in illicit sale of liquor or drugs,” Midha said. According to a police spokesperson, around 2,500 cases under local and special acts have been registered in the district during Sangeeta Kalia’s 10-month stint in Fatehabad.
“The police booked 1,384 persons under the Excise Act, 202 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, and seized 29,065 bottles of country-made liquor, 15,198 bottles of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL), 1,029 bottles of illicit liquor, six kg opium, 1019.2 kg poppy husk, 580.55 gm smack, 197.18 gm heroin and 1,18,468 tablets of medical nasha,” the spokesperson said.
“The number of cases registered, arrests made and liquor and drug seizures has been the highest during this year so far, as compared with figures for the past 10 years,” the spokesperson added.
