DOSE OF DEATH IN PUNJAB’S VEINS
‘Left alone at 60, how will I raise his kids?’
Despite the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government’s promise last year to wipe out drugs from Punjab, the state has seen a spate of deaths due to suspected drug overdose in the past two months. Young lives are being cut short, and distraught parents, mostly in rural areas, do not know how to deal with drug addiction as a medical or social problem.
Despite the Capt Amarinder Singhled Congress government’s promise last year to wipe out drugs from Punjab, the state has seen a spate of deaths due to suspected drug overdose in the past two months. Young lives are being cut short, and distraught parents, mostly in rural areas, do not know how to deal with drug addiction as a medical or social problem. The state’s authorities were in denial mode with the health minister, Brahm Mohindra, even claiming that only two drugoverdose deaths were confirmed as per official records. Facing flak from the opposition parties for failing to curb the menace, the government appears to be in panic now as more and more deaths are being reported daily from across the state. HT reporters put faces to victims of suspected drug overdose. GURBHEJ SINGH, 29
Dhotian (Tarn Taran) A vegetable vendor, he died on June 25
“Though my only son was a drug addict, he was the lone breadwinner of the family. And now drugs snatched him away forever, leaving me behind to live for his two kids,” says Sawinder Kaur, 60, the mother of 29-year-old man Gurbhej Singh, who was found dead with a syringe injected in his left arm at home.
Tears in her eyes, Sawinder says, “When Gurbhej was 21, he was married to Jasbir Kaur of Malia village. A year after his marriage, my husband, who was a farmer, died of heart attack. My life started turning into hell as my son started taking drugs with some other men of the village.”
“Tired of Gurbhej’s addiction, his wife divorced him and has married someone else, leaving behind their two kids (son Jaspreet Singh, 8, and Navpreet Kaur, 7).”
“He had son started selling vegetables in the village to run the house, but didn’t stop taking drugs. Some years ago, I took him to various drug de-addiction centres of Tarn Taran, at least four times, but it proved futile. I also sold out my only acre of farmland for his treatment,” she adds. On that day, Gurbhej was in the bathroom. “He asked for his clothes, but he was dead when I got there, a syringe of drugs still in his vein.”
In another village, Fatehabad, of Tarn Taran, Sukhjinder Singh, 34, a labourer, died on June 6. His wife Jasbir Kaur, 32, finds it hard to work in the fields as one of her legs is afflicted with polio. But she has no option. She has to fend for their children, son Samsher Singh, 8, and daughter Manpreet Kaur, 6. She puts up in a one-room tenement while her father-in-law, also a labourer, lives with another son in the village.
Some years ago, I took him to various drug deaddiction centres of Tarn Taran, at least four times, but it proved futile. I also sold out my only acre of farmland for his treatment. SAWINDER KAUR, 60, victim’s mother