AIDS menace engulfs Punjab, says Manjeet Sehgal
The number of AIDS cases in Punjab have gone up drastically. The number of HIV positive cases have shot upwards from 25,082 in March 2011 to 39,625 in February 2014.
There seems to be no end to the worries of the Punjab government as it struggles hard to control the menace of drug abuse. Drug addiction has thrown the land of Sikh gurus into a state of despair.
While the state government lacks funds to tackle the problem, the families of those who fall prey to narcotics, have no money to feed themselves. Because there are no jobs - agriculture has failed - the state's youths are being compelled to seek work, even in troubled countries like Iraq. Fighting drug use is not the only challenge before the fund-starved state government.
It also has to fight poor revenue growth, unemployment, social unrest and above all, the decaying social fabric. The state is in fact facing an endless challenge to save its future generations. One of the biggest challenges being posed by widespread drug addiction in Punjab is the spread of HIV/AIDS. The number of AIDS cases in the state have gone up drastically. The number of HIV positive cases have shot upwards from 25,082 in March 2011 to 39,625 in February 2014.
Till February this year, 39,625 cases were reported in Punjab, among which 29,662 patients have registered for care. Drug addiction is adding more AIDS patients in Punjab every year. According to National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), the injected drug users (IDU) in the state is highest in the country.
Growing instances of injected drug use is fuelling an HIV epidemic in the state. Against the national average of 7.14, Punjab has the highest prevalence of 21.1 HIV rate in IDU. Though it had peaked in 2010 (26.1 per cent), but the HIV epidemic threat still looms large on the state.
The fact that the state suffers from the highest number of IDU AIDS cases can also be correlated with the number of drug smuggling cases and the number of reported HIV positive cases.
According to data available with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2012, the maximum number of drug smuggling cases were reported in Amritsar district (457) which also has the highest number of HIV positive cases (11,160) in the state, followed by Patiala (5,149), Ludhiana (4,338), Jalandhar (4,208), Gurdaspur (2,170) and Taran Taran (1,497) cases.
The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has also expressed concern about the growing number of IDUs in Punjab. The IDU threat perception has also gained an alarming magnitude, as the country lacks a firm policy on IDUs. The state government has not yet chalked out a plan to educate people about the AIDS threat being mounted by injected drug use, besides testing IDUs for AIDS. The state AIDS control society does not possess any data about the number of IDUs in the state.
The IDUs are under threat for sharing the same syringe to inject the drugs. Besides the needle, sex workers are also spreading the virus among normal people as well as the IDUs. The problem is exascabated by the fact that sex tourism is growing in the state and industrial towns like Ludhiana and Jalandhar have become home to prostitution rackets. Sex workers from all parts of the country, including foreign call girls from Uzbekistan, are also visiting the big towns of Punjab. This is further aggravating the situation.
Sources said that the AIDS Control Society of Punjab lacks the adequate number of staff and volunteers to tackle the spreading menace of AIDS. The state also lacks adequate anti-retroviral therapy (ART) centres. Sources also added the number of AIDS cases in the state could be higher as thousands of IDUs are yet to be tested for HIV. The number of drug addicts in Majha, Malwa and Doaba regions are among the highest in the state and most of them are young people.
HARYANA CONGRESS CONTINUES INFIGHTING
Rival factions of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, led by Rajya Sabha MP Chaudhary Birender Singh and former Union Minister Kumari Selja are on the back foot after AICC President Sonia Gandhi said no to replacing Hooda as chief minister. The frustration of the anti-Hooda faction can be gauged from the fact that when everybody was talking about the party's gains after Hooda announced a separate Sikh body for the state; his detractor Chaudhary Birender Singh was quick to dismiss the claims Sonia's support to Hooda has now rejuvenated Jat politics in the state. Hooda has even publicly said that the Assembly elections in the state will be fought under his leadership and those (detractors) not happy can go do what they want.
Sources close the party said the party workers and leaders have expressed concern about growing factionalism within the party. Haryana Congress in-charge, Shakeel Ahmed said that those involved in anti-party activities will not be spared and will face strict action. "The A.K. Antony committee has summoned all Haryana candidates to Delhi and will speak to individual candidates. Action will be taken against party leaders found guilty of anti-party activities", he said.
However, other sources say that the party high command might not take actions against dissident leaders like Chaudhary Birender Singh who might even join the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls in October this year.
PUNJAB'S DRUGS COMING FROM HIMACHAL
After earning a bad name for manufacturing spurious and substandard drugs, drug units in Himachal Pradesh are now under scanner for their role in producing synthetic drugs. The source of most of the synthetic drugs seized in Punjab were Himachal drug factories located in Baddi (Solan) and Tahliwal (Una). This is also the side effect of the special industrial package announced for Himachal Pradesh ( and neighbouring Uttarakhand and J&K) in 2003 when over 600 drug units were set up across the mountain state.
After arresting Akali Dal leader Chuni Lal Gaba and his son Gurjit Singh Gaba on June 19, a Punjab police team has been dispatched on a mission to seize synthetic drugs from Himachal Pradesh on the basis of inputs provided by Gaba, who also owns a drug factory in Baddi.Gaba alias Monu is one one the accused in the Rs 5000-crore synthetic drugs case.
"Our investigations have revealed that there are no drug factories in Punjab. The drug units in Himachal and Uttarakhand are manufacturing synthetic drugs. The investigation is still on," said senior Superintendent of Police (Patiala), H S Mann.
However, former chief minister and Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Capt Amarinder Singh said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendera Modi on Monday that synthetic drugs are manufactured in Punjab. "Synthetic drugs are produced locally .These are cheaply produced within Punjab and are easily available. And this is the reason I am calling for an urgent initiative on your part to formulate a uniform National Drug Policy that would be applicable across the country," he wrote.
On June 6, Patiala police had seized 3.2 quintals of pseudophederin from a drug unit (Mefro Organic Limited) in Tahliwal industrial area, Una district of Himachal.