Cross-border drug trade on the rise in Kangra

Rajiv Mahajan

Despite strict vigil and stern action against drug peddlers in lower Kangra bordering Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, the illegal trade is reportedly going on unabated in the area. Nurpur, Indora and Damtal police stations have reported an increase in drug peddling cases.

It is alleged that Sansis, a tribal community from Punjab living in the inter-state border areas of Nurpur and Indora subdivisions, are mostly involved in drug trafficking. Local residents say that the successive state governments have failed to root out the menace, as a result of which drug abuse in the area is rising at an alarming rate.

Sources in the police say women belonging to the Sansi community are involved in drug peddling even though they face a number of cases under the NDPS Act. The husbands of some of these women are already undergoing imprisonment in connection with NDPS Act cases.

There is a shortage of policewomen in the area, hence more women being found to be involved in the illicit trade has become a matter of concern for locals.

DSP Sahil Arora says that the police have stepped up their drive against drugs. “Since January, 75 cases have been registered under the NDPS Act in Indora, Damtal and Nurpur police stations and most of these are against members of the Sansi community. Their population, too, has increased manifold in the area in the past 10 to 15 years. To wipe out the menace from the region, active community participation is required,” he adds.

Veena Devi, pradhan of Damtal gram panchayat, says that the government should force drug peddlers out of the area, as they are not permanent residents here.

Renuka, pradhan of Chhanni gram panchayat, says, “Drug peddlers have encroached upon government land or are residing in benami properties illegally. The government should set up its own de-addiction centres to save the youth from drug abuse.”

Inquiries reveal that the drug mafia, which earlier used mobile phones, has now changed its modus operandi for procuring and selling drugs. It now operates in an interstate nexus and through hawala transactions to procure synthetic drugs, especially heroin (chitta). The police have been mounting pressure on small drug peddlers, but no strategy has been formulated to smash the interstate mafia, which is active in Chhanni, Bhadroya, Milwan, Damtal, Thakurdwara and Mohtli areas.

Most of the peddlers are selling drugs on the Pathankot-Jalandhar highway under the jurisdiction of Himachal Pradesh. They have a fixed clientele of addicts from Pathankot, Kathua and local areas.

There is neither any sports activity centre in the area to save the youth from falling prey to drugs nor any government plan to rehabilitate the tribal families. The only de-addiction centre in the area run by the Kangra Red Cross Society in Nurpur has failed to serve the purpose for want of requisite staff and infrastructure.