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The drug addiction menace in Punjab in question is not being countred and resisted seriously and effectively ?
Why it is so ?
Those at the helm of affairs have been playing only ” hide and seek ” with this malady prevalent in the state
for the past many years playing havoc especially with the youth !
Neither SAD-BJP combine Parkash Singh Badal led Punjab government bothered to eradicate this problem
nor Captain Amarinder Singh led Congress government in Punjab took this malady seriously despite his pledges
during the Punjab Assembly Polls 2017 campaign to root out this evil ! Even when Mr.Partap Singh Bajwa, former
Punjab Congress Chief swung into action to take cudgels against drug addiction during Badal regime, it was infact
Captain Amarinder Singh who preferred to soft pedal this issue for the reasons best known to him ! May be most
likely “political” in nature ?
Even now constrained by the rise in drug addiction remedial overdose case deaths in the state, Punjab Chief Minister
had to wake up from his deep and long slumber to take in to account the gravity of the situation. For this purpose, he
convened a meeting of Punjab Cabinet in Chandigarh a couple of days ago !
But ironically , the meeting under the stewardship of Captain Amarinder Singh decided to resort to the path of
OBFUSCATION
not to find ways and means to do away with this vice for all times to come ! Instead cabinet found a way to escape
and wriggle out of the critical scenario by recommending the capital punishment for drug dealers and smugglers
pushing the ball ultimately into the court of the Union Home Ministry for information and necessary action !
Is death penalty the lasting solution of the ill the state is suffering from ? No, it is certainly not !
The causes of this problem are quite evident and not at all very typical and difficult to detect ! The trio of causes
infact responsible for drug addiction are socio-economical-political in nature ! There is a very strong and powerful
political-bureaucratic-police nexus !
I am happy to find that Mr.Harinder Singh Phoolka, AAP leader expressing his satisfaction and kudos over Punjab
Government’s act of bringing some policemen to book for their nexus with the drug dealers but it is a stop gap damage
control exercise to give an imoression here and there that govt. is alive to the situation, then things again may start
slipping into the status quo position !
I am of the considered view that it will be very laudable act on the part of the government if it nips this evil in the
bud for ever !
The death penalty issue very easier to recommend than done !
It is a very Herculean task in our police-judicial system to take any such case to its climax-logical conclusion resulting
into death sentence ! Even if the apex court gives its nod to death sentence, then a lot of time is frittered away in
clemency and mercy appeals which in the past were found to be hanging fire for years together in the office of the
President of India !
We have seen that death penalty is translated into actuality on extraneous, unavoidable and
pressing”political” considerations. Have not we seen many political outfits in the nation making clemency appeals
before the President of India for criminals involved even in heinous terrorist killing or bomb blast cases ? There are
examples of some cases lucky to escape the gallows for execution of death sentence whereas some others are not !
Then even sans capital punishment, with a very strong political will power and determination those at the helm of affairs can
explore a solution to this malady but only objectively !
Time to ponder over it and introspect deeply !
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist
Pom Anm Nest, Barnala (Punjab)
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist, Barnala(Punjab)
The drug addiction menace in Punjab in question is not being countred and resisted seriously and effectively ?
Why it is so ?
Those at the helm of affairs have been playing only ” hide and seek ” with this malady prevalent in the state
for the past many years playing havoc especially with the youth !
Neither SAD-BJP combine Parkash Singh Badal led Punjab government bothered to eradicate this problem
nor Captain Amarinder Singh led Congress government in Punjab took this malady seriously despite his pledges
during the Punjab Assembly Polls 2017 campaign to root out this evil ! Even when Mr.Partap Singh Bajwa, former
Punjab Congress Chief swung into action to take cudgels against drug addiction during Badal regime, it was infact
Captain Amarinder Singh who preferred to soft pedal this issue for the reasons best known to him ! May be most
likely “political” in nature ?
Even now constrained by the rise in drug addiction remedial overdose case deaths in the state, Punjab Chief Minister
had to wake up from his deep and long slumber to take in to account the gravity of the situation. For this purpose, he
convened a meeting of Punjab Cabinet in Chandigarh a couple of days ago !
But ironically , the meeting under the stewardship of Captain Amarinder Singh decided to resort to the path of
OBFUSCATION
not to find ways and means to do away with this vice for all times to come ! Instead cabinet found a way to escape
and wriggle out of the critical scenario by recommending the capital punishment for drug dealers and smugglers
pushing the ball ultimately into the court of the Union Home Ministry for information and necessary action !
Is death penalty the lasting solution of the ill the state is suffering from ? No, it is certainly not !
The causes of this problem are quite evident and not at all very typical and difficult to detect ! The trio of causes
infact responsible for drug addiction are socio-economical-political in nature ! There is a very strong and powerful
political-bureaucratic-police nexus !
I am happy to find that Mr.Harinder Singh Phoolka, AAP leader expressing his satisfaction and kudos over Punjab
Government’s act of bringing some policemen to book for their nexus with the drug dealers but it is a stop gap damage
control exercise to give an imoression here and there that govt. is alive to the situation, then things again may start
slipping into the status quo position !
I am of the considered view that it will be very laudable act on the part of the government if it nips this evil in the
bud for ever !
The death penalty issue very easier to recommend than done !
It is a very Herculean task in our police-judicial system to take any such case to its climax-logical conclusion resulting
into death sentence ! Even if the apex court gives its nod to death sentence, then a lot of time is frittered away in
clemency and mercy appeals which in the past were found to be hanging fire for years together in the office of the
President of India !
We have seen that death penalty is translated into actuality on extraneous, unavoidable and
pressing”political” considerations. Have not we seen many political outfits in the nation making clemency appeals
before the President of India for criminals involved even in heinous terrorist killing or bomb blast cases ? There are
examples of some cases lucky to escape the gallows for execution of death sentence whereas some others are not !
Then even sans capital punishment, with a very strong political will power and determination those at the helm of affairs can
explore a solution to this malady but only objectively !
Time to ponder over it and introspect deeply !
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist
Pom Anm Nest, Barnala (Punjab)