51 ADDICTS RESCUED FROM ILLEGAL Y’NAGAR REHAB CENTRE

team comprising health department officials and police personnel rescued 51 drug addicts from an illegally run de-addiction centre in Sadhaura town of Yamunanagar district.

The addicts told the team they were forced to live in subhuman conditions and they were working for 12-16 hours a day.

Dr Sunil Kumar of the district health department said an addict, who had managed to escape from the Nav Jivan Rehabilitation Centre, had written to them informing that the centre was being run without permission. The addicts’ families paid hefty amounts to the centre for the rehabilitation. There was no provision of proper facilities, Kumar said.

The centre did not have doctors to attend on the addicts and did not medicines for their treatment, he said. After medical examination, the addicts were sent with their family members and the police sealed the premises of the centre, Kumar said.

Sadhaura police station in-charge Sachin Kumar said the centre’s owner Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Bootgarh village, was absconding and a case under Section 342 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against him. Investigations are on to arrest him, Sachin Kumar said.

ADDICTS SAY THEY WERE FORCED TO LIVE IN SUBHUMAN CONDITIONS AND WORKED FOR 1216 HOURS A DAY