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Punjab: Sports infra, livelihood opportunities helped SBS Nagar’s Langroya shun drug-haven tag
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, while launching the ‘Nasha Mukti Yatra’ on May 16, had declared this village 99% drug free.
Langroya village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, declared drug free by the state government recently, has seen efforts by the village panchayat, including retired officials, for almost half a decade to transform the communities that have been known for selling drugs, villagers have said.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, while launching the ‘Nasha Mukti Yatra’ on May 16, had declared this village 99% drug free.
Situated on the outskirts of the district headquarters, Langroya village remained infamous for smuggling and selling poppy husk, opium and heroin among other drugs for decades. Village sarpanch Gurdev Singh, a retired sub-divisional officer, said, “People from the Sansi community, notorious for drug peddling, are settled in Langroya village on large scale. People from other places used to come here to buy drugs. Addicts had made our village a haven for getting their daily doses of chitta day in and out.”
The governments, be it previous or present, made very little effort in improving the situation, he said. “It was a collective effort of retired teachers, officials and personnel from armed forces in the village that we took it as a challenge to eradicate the village’s drug haven tag. For this, we have been working for the past five to six years,” he said.
“Besides formally passing a resolution against the drug smugglers, we introduced sports infrastructure for kids and the result is quite evident that nearly 80 kids of these families are playing football at competition level,” said Mohan Singh, a panchayat member.
The entire school fee of the children is funded by the Sant Baba Karam Singh Sports club, run by NRIs and panchayat.
Sarpanch Gurdev Singh also said that in assistance with NRIs, the panchayat provided alternate sources of income to such families by indulging them in dairy farming, small poultry farms, providing them jobs in MGNREGA and other agriculture-allied activities.
However, the village panchayat is concerned about the sustainability of their efforts. “For this, we will soon meet the deputy commissioner and the senior superintendent of police for government’s help as the panchayat has limited resources,” said a panchayat member.
The sarpanch said the sustainability of drug-free tag is now only up to the government. “It should not be a mere campaign for the government as the panchayats across the state need their strong backing,” he said.
SBS Nagar’s SSP Mehtab Singh said it was one of the hotspot areas and police teams held multiple meetings with such families. “We have remained in touch with the panchayat and continue holding meetings with the families earlier indulged in drug peddling,” the SSP said.
