Furore in House over ‘rapid spread’ of drugs in state

HIGH DRAMA Heated arguments, uproar as Congress, BJP legislators accuse each other of involvement in drug trade

CHANDIGARH: The concluding day of the budget session in Haryana Vidhan Sabha here witnessed high drama on Wednesday on the issue of ‘rapid spread’ of drugs in the state with Congress and BJP legislators accusing each other of involvement amid heated arguments and uproar that lasted over an hour.

Din prevailed in the House with the MLAS of ruling BJP and main opposition Congress indulging in verbal exchanges during the calling attention motion moved by Congress legislators, including Geeta Bhukkal, BB Batra and Amit Sihag, on the issue of drugs.

The opposition MLAS alleged that tentacles of drugs were now spreading to every nook and corner of the state and that could not be possible without the connivance of police and administration.

However, the House erupted in pandemonium when home minister Anil Vij, while speaking after the reply of social justice and empowerment minister OP Yadav, reminded the House of an incident wherein a man claiming to be a relative of Congress MLA Krishan Hooda was arrested by Chandigarh Police in January for illegal possession of 200-gram heroin.

Vij then asked the leader of opposition, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, if he had got the matter looked into as it involved a member of his party.

Vij alleged that since the arrested accused was staying at a room booked in the name of a Congress legislator at the Haryana

Tentacles of drugs are now spreading to every nook and corner of Haryana and that could not be possible without the connivance of police and administration. CONGRESS MLAS

INLD MLA

MLAS’ hostel in Sector 3, it appeared that the ‘Congress had opened a supply depot of drugs in the room’.

Provoked by Vij’s remarks, Hooda and his party legislators, including Aftab Ahmed, Geeta Bhukkal, Dharampal Chhoker, Rao Dan Singh and Shamsher Gogi, instantly got up aggressively, telling speaker Gian Chand Gupta at the top of their voices that Vij was misleading the House and defaming the legislator.

This led to a ruckus in the House. However, tempers among legislators of both the parties ran high when Hooda dared Vij to either prove the charges against Krishan Hooda or refrain from making such baseless allegations.

Congress legislators were also quick to name BJP state president Subhash Barala, who was allegedly seen with a man accused of being involved in drug business.

This prompted sharp and loud reaction from the treasury benches with Vij, Kanwar Pal, Mahipal Dhanda, Aseem Goel, Kamal Gupta and others protesting against the same.

However, when the situation remained acidic for long, speaker Gian Chand Gupta told the House that it appeared that both ruling and opposition benches were not debating the drug issue with the seriousness it deserved and asked them to refrain from making any controversial remark.

However, heated arguments continued even when Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA Abhay Chautala, while taking part in the calling attention motion, said it was shocking that now, persons as young as 15 years were falling into the drug trap. He also went on to name a former BJP leader Pawan Beniwal, who was also allegedly involved in the drug trade.

Vij, in his reply, informed the House about various steps being taken to check the illegal trade as well as the treatment of addicts.

He also said that Haryana state narcotics control bureau was being set up which would be headed by an officer of additional director general of police rank.

The government would also induct 64 sniffer dogs who would be deployed at different entry points of the state, he added.