Illegal deaddiction centre raided, 22 inmates rescued
The centre ‘Naya Sawera’ was being run at a deserted location in Jain Colony of Manawala village; inmates were later shifted to a govtrun centre
AMRITSAR: A team of district health officials on Monday conducted a raid, at an illegal drug de-addiction centre, which was being run in Jain Colony of Manawala village, 10 km from the district headquarters.
The officials rescued 22 patients, who were locked in a residential building. The inmates, later on, were shifted to government-run Swami Vivekananda Drug De-addiction Centre at Government Medical College in Amritsar.
A team comprising assistant civil surgeon Dr Kirandeep Kaur, senior medical officer (SMO) of Manawala community health centre (CHC) Dr Nirmal Singh and deputy mass media officer Amardeep Singh conducted the raid at the centre ‘Naya Sawera’ being run at a deserted location in the colony, on Monday morning.
Civil surgeon Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai said, “We had secret information that the centre was being run illegally. Acting on the tip-off, the team conducted the raid and found that the centre was locked, and 22 inmates were detained there. The team rescued the inmates and admitted them to the government de-addiction centre.”
“The patients were being treated in an inhuman manner. No doctor and nurse was present when the team conducted the raid,” he said and added that they have sealed the centre for now.
An official of the raiding team said, “As per our preliminary investigation, the centre was being run by a person named Gurdev Singh. As the centre had been run without any registration certificate, we are lodging a complaint with police in this regard.”
However, the team was not able to contact the owner of the centre or know about his whereabouts. The team members said only one employee was present at the centre, who too slipped before the raid.
“I am a heroin addict. Around six days ago, I was brought here from my home in a Maruti Suzuki Swift car by four persons. I was forced here to live in the closed building with the other inmates. Around four to five employees work at the centre, who used to thrash us,” One of the released inmates said.
Another inmate, who claimed he was admitted to the centre 13 days ago, said, “We were forced to clean the building daily. We were given poor quality food. Mostly, we were given rice without any vegetable or dal. Now, we are happy that we are released from the ‘prison’.” As per the health officials, the centre was charging ₹7 to 8 thousands per-inmate from their families.
Dr Ghai said people should avail the de-addiction and rehabilitation facilities from government-run centres only as they have trained manpower, medicines and infrastructure to deal with the issue.
However, this is the second raid of the health official at an illegal de-addiction centre in a month. On November 14, a team had sealed an unauthorised drug de-addiction centre being run from Rajewala village in the Jandiala and rescued eight inmates.
› We were forced to clean the building and given poor quality food. An inmate