Existing de-addiction centres fade away as new ones come up

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 24

A drug de-addiction centre managed by the Red Cross on Goniana road is going through a financial crisis these days.

The 15-bed centre was started by the Red Cross here in 1992 in collaboration with the Union Government. It helped many drug addicts visit the centre and receive appropriate treatment.

Though the Punjab government has set up a new drug-addiction centre in Talwandi Sabo, this new drug-addiction centre is being overlooked by the state government.

The annual grant comes at the end of every financial year. The patients are being referred to the other government drug de addiction centres in the district due to lack of funds and medicines.

Earlier, the Central Government gave Rs 8.45 lakh by way of annual grants to the drug de-addiction centre, which was increased to 13 lakh.

Currently, the Central government is giving Rs 19 lakh in annual grants to the drug de-addiction centre but the problem of drug de-addiction centre remains a constant one.

The employees of the drug de-addiction centre have not got salary for the last ten months. On the other hand, there are many vacant positions of authority in the Red Cross society as well as that of doctors and yoga teacher.

Col (retd) Varinder Kumar, secretary of the district Red Cross Society, said, “When we get the annual grant from the Central Government, we will the distribute the pending salaries of the employees. Moreover, we have already given advertisements regarding vacant posts at the drug de-addiction centre,” he added.