Capt Amarinder Singh.
Chandigarh, December 14, 2014: Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh today said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Mann ki Baat” on drugs should have been more action oriented than just a wish-list. “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 today.
Capt 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, he has been insisting for a National Drug Policy as different states have different laws regarding the drugs, which makes the pedalling easy. He pointed out, in a state like Madhya Pradesh opium is allowed to be grown while in Rajasthan it is 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, while adding, “in Amritsar, the area I represent in the parliament there is a village of widows with ninety per cent of women losing their husbands to drugs”. Besides, he added, 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.
Capt Amarinder said, 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. “Narco-terrorism is only one of the aspects of the problem that the Prime Minister touched”, he said, adding, “The dimensions of this menace are threateningly more dangerous and devastating than even terrorism”. He pointed out, while terrorists indulge in hit and run, the drugs ruin an entire generation constantly and continuously.
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Date:
Sunday, December 14, 2014