Ludhiana (Punjab) : Punjab is the blessed land of five rivers but what disturbs the local public the most is the invisible fifth river that is flowing unabatedly - drugs. Families are more concerned that along with boys, even girls are falling victim to addiction these days. The situation is turning worse with kids aged 12 to 17 years getting trapped by the drug gang.
The statistics of drug addiction are shocking but there is no drug de-addiction center meant for boys and girls in Punjab. A 20-year-old girl trapped by the drug mafia made a shocking revelation that she started taking drugs at the age of 18 and eventually took to prostitution. She first started panting on paper and now she does injections. Her parents died at an early age, after which she was left alone.
She said that she started prostitution to fulfill her drug addiction and she has been taking drugs for the last 2 years. The victim said that drugs are easily available at every street and intersection. Small children and girls were getting affected while many girls did wrong things with him, she said. Once addicted, they find it very difficult to quit. Tablets given at the de-addiction centers induce vomiting, which repels them.
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Seeing the girl's situation, Dr Indrajit Dhingra, who runs a de-addiction center, said that he would treat this girl free of cost. He said that the tragedy is such that we do not have any de-addiction center for girls and children. The victim girl said that she would like to quit. Dr. Dhingra has assured her that he will treat her, but said that there are many girls like her who want to quit but have no way. Unknowingly she got caught in the quagmire of addiction.
What do the figures say
Drugs are prevalent in every district of Punjab, but Bathinda and Ludhiana are the districts where drugs are rampant. The use of each other's injections for intoxication and having unprotected sex is increasing the number of HIV cases. More than 10,000 cases of HIV have been reported in Punjab within a year. In which 1,711 cases have been reported from Ludhiana.
A total of 1,448 men, 233 women, two transgenders, 28 children below 15 years of age are also included. About 1,514 cases in Bathinda, 1,817 women involved in new cases. Not only this, there are 88 children whose age is less than 15 years, they have got HIV.
