Opposition has come out all guns blazing over the government’s handling of the growing drug menace in the State. It was the acting Leader of the House Sudin Dhavalikar who had to face the opposition ire. The point of contention, however, should not be the disparity between cases and convictions.
Convictions cannot be a yardstick to measure how effectively the state has managed to arrest the drug menace. The State had registered 168 drug cases in 2017 as compared to 60 cases in 2016 and 61 in 2015 showing an almost 200 percent jump. For the record, the figures indicate that there are more drugs in circulation compared to the previous years.
Instead of just focusing on the number of drug seizures, the war on drugs should also cover other aspects. Nobody has even spared a thought on rehabilitation and taking corrective steps to help the victim out of this substance abuse. This is where drug rehabilitation and detoxification centres come in. We have an anti-narcotics task force in place with members of various law enforcement agencies, but sadly such a force doesn’t have an educationist, psychiatrist and a counselor in its team. The responsibility of the government doesn’t stop at drug seizure, but in fact it extends to the point of rehabilitating and helping the victim come out of the habit. Communication lines between the victim and a counselor become crucial.
Lately there has been a hue and cry over a confidential letter written by the principal of a school in Cujira complex to the police about suspicion of drugs in the campus, but the sensitivity of the issue has not been given a thought. While it is easy to conclude that the police failed to take action on the letter, it must be borne in mind that it is an educational institute and the police can’t barge into the complex and start questioning students. There could be several other reasons for students appearing stupefied and falling asleep on benches. Intelligence work comes into play here.
The state machinery cracks down on drugs in weird ways too. Suddenly we see a flurry of raids with drug seizures and arrests. There is a clampdown on night parties and there is strict vigil. And soon the entire exercise goes into hibernation. There cannot be an intermission in such a crackdown. Enforcement has to be consistent and ruthless.
Blaming the government and the police force will not help the cause. The fight against drugs should be a collective one and each one should take responsibility, including the Opposition Congress. When Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar solicited help from legislators across the spectrum asking them to give him inputs, just like the way Leader of the House Sudin Dhavalikar did now, there were no takers. Even MLAs who are very vocal in the Assembly session go silent in giving inputs. If we don’t want the State to be an ‘Udta Goa’ it should be a collective effort, not just of the government alone.
