Grassroots crusaders against narcotics

With gloom over drug deaths hanging thick over Punjab, a clutch of ordinary citizens, some of them former addicts or kin of victims, are becoming the torchbearers of people’s fight against the menace. HT profiles some of them:

KAFFAN WALA BANDA ON A LIFESAVING MISSION MUKHTIAR SINGH, 48 Patti, Tarn Taran district

The people of Patti town call him Kaffan Wala Banda (Man with a Shroud) and his mission is to ensure there are no more ‘kaffan wale bande’ in Punjab.

Two years ago, Mukhtiar Singh lost his son, Manjit Singh, 27, to drugs. The shattered father set aside personal loss and marched on the streets of the town, carrying his son’s body with the demand that the state government fight drug abuse in all sincerity. “I even offered my son’s coffin to drive home the message and save other youngsters from falling prey to drugs but the government didn’t take me seriously,” he says.

Mukhtiar sat on dharna outside the Patti sub divisional magistrate’s (SDM) office and wrote a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his son’s kaffan (shroud). He went on to launch his fight against drugs with a group called Kaffan Bol Peya (The Shroud has Spoken). The group spreads awareness against drugs through social media besides putting up hoardings and banners at public places.

“Had the government taken note of my memorandum, which even found mention in Parliament, more than 100 youngsters who died due to drug addiction in two years in Punjab could have been saved,” says Mukhtiar, who always wears a black apron.

This assistant lineman in the border town of Khem Karan says, “My job takes me to villages. I tell villagers about the campaign against drug smugglers. I’ve recently written to the Punjab government, seeking a law to confiscate the property of drug smugglers and use it for treating addicts and rehabilitating their families.” Had my son been alive today, I would’ve spent lakhs on his wedding. “Now, I’m spending on spreading awareness among youngsters against drugs. It’s a rich tribute to my son,” he adds.

SAMEER SEHGAL/HT Antidrug activist Mukhtiar Singh literally wears the message he wants to spread, while his wife Bhupinder Kaur holds the photo of their son Manjit Singh, who they lost to addiction, in Patti town on Thursday.