Drug menace assuming monstrous proportions: Congress

The Punjab Congress today challenged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on the monstrous proportions the drug menace had assumed in the state and counselled him to stop resorting to utter lies as the data with his government on this problem contradicted him. The party put into the public domain the data on the drug menace in the state since 2007 procured by party’s RTI Cell chairman Jasdeepak Singh. It threw open challenge to Mr Badal calling upon him to refute the figures supplied by his own government or tender apology. According to the latest information provided by the state government, the number of patients who have approached the de-addiction centres is 6,22,381. It is established fact that only a small portion of people approach de-addiction centres. This figure can safely be multiplied by five to arrive at the rough estimate of the people addicted to drugs. Mr Badal should tell the people in the state as to how many people who approached these centres were addicted to heroin which is smuggled from Pakistan as he has been blaming smuggling from across the border, Dr Singh said.