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War on Drugs: In 12 years, retd official lost property to son’s addiction in Punjab’s Sangrur
Hardyal Singh, 70, says the family lost everything from its savings to 25 acres he owned to his son Jaskaran Singh’s addiction
Sangrur: Hardyal Singh, 70, who retired from Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, lives alone in Sangrur’s Hargobind Nagar in regret and remorse because he couldn’t save his son from getting addicted to heroin.
He says the family lost everything from its savings to 25 acres he owned to his son Jaskaran Singh’s addiction.
Jaskaran Singh was 19 when he had gone to pursue masters of computer application (MCA) at a private college in Mandi Gobindgarh, where he started taking heroin in 2011.
Hardyal says he tried counselling his son, but in vain as he suffered a relapse. “I fought a losing battle for 12 years till it all ended on November 17 when I found his body in the washroom at Kaula Park. Doctors informed me that Jaskaran had died of drug overdose,” recalls the father.
A month later, his wife also passed away as she couldn’t bear the pain of his son’s death. “I lost my son, wife, savings and land in 12 years. My son sold our property, car and two tipper trucks only to buy drugs,” says Hardyal.
But what pains him the most is the easy availability of heroin. “Three governments changed in these 12 years, but nothing has been done to check this problem. Even if one of them had made sincere efforts to eradicate Punjab’s drug problem, my son would have been alive today,” says the dejected father.
