‘Drugs’ claim another life at Batala locality

BATALA: Another Gandhi camp resident fell prey to an alleged drug overdose on Friday night, bringing to fore the fact that drugs were still freely available in the locality. The victim has been identified as Sat Pal.

Victim’s sister Nirmala Devi said that her brother was not feeling well for the past few days and was rushed to private hospital on Friday night after his condition started deteriorating. Sat Pal, however, breathed his last allegedly due to an overdose of some drug, she said.

Nirmala further said that her elder brother, Ramesh Kumar, who too was a drug addict, had died two years back.

Another woman from the locality Shanti Devi (60), who lost her son Joginder Kumar (31) to drugs, accused the police of inaction as ‘merchants of death’ roam freely in the locality. “After the death of Joginder, my daughter-in-law too died and I am struggling to raise my 8-year-old grandson,” she said.

Another victim of the drug menace, Deepo, who had lost her three sons to narcotics over the past two years, said that she was worried about her lone surviving son, who might also be hooked to drugs.

A widow from the locality, Mohindro Devi, who had lost her son Tirlok Chand (35) to drugs some years ago, said that due to lack of action, drug smuggling trade was thriving in the lcoality.

A large number of residents of the locality are hooked to one or the other drug. Besides iillicit liquor, smack and other narcotic drugs are easily available here.

On October 16, when chief minister Parksh Singh Badal visited the locality, women residents had brought the alleged nexus between police and drugpeddlers to his notice.

Badal had ordered Batala SSP Tulsi Ram to take immediate steps to make the area drug-free.

When contacted, SSP Tulsi Ram said that as soon after getting information about the death of Sat Pal, the police asked the family to get a post-mortem done, but they refused. “Without a medical report, how can the family claim that Sat Pal died due to drug overdose,” he said.

He further said that the entire area had been sealed and a police post had been set up in the locality to check sale of drugs and illicit liquor in the area.