AAP slams Punjab minister's claim that only 1% people drug addicts

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday said when the Punjab government itself is involved in drug peddling, its claim that only one percent of the state's population was addicted to drugs, wasn't surprising.

"When the ministers are themselves involved in drug trafficking, how can they accept that state is being ruined by it?" AAP leader Sanjay Singh asked.

"Bikram Singh Majithia, who is a part of the ruling dispensation, is hand-in-glove with the drug peddler groups. So, the drug and problems related to it are getting government's support. So, one can expect the minister to accept it as a problem," he said.

Singh, who has been frequently visiting Punjab, and is pitching for the AAP in upcoming election, said the villages of Punjab clearly highlight the havoc caused by drugs.

Read: Aiming at clean sweep in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh next target: AAP

"Today, Punjab has a serious epidemic in regards to drug menace. Punjab is now being compared to Mexico in terms of the use of drugs," he added.

Noting that there is a rehabilitation centre for women in Amritsar, Singh said it shows the seriousness of the problem.
"It clearly states that the government is indulged in drug peddling and hence this is obvious that the Health Minister will give these kinds of statement.... but everybody knows the truth," he added.

The reaction of the AAP leader came after the Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jayani claimed that a survey conducted in ten districts of Punjab revealed that only 1.8 percent of the population is addicted to drugs.

"We had conducted a survey in ten districts of Punjab. It shows that 1.8 percent of the population is addicted to drugs; we didn't conduct the survey in all the 22 districts of the state," Jayani told the media in Delhi.

"The survey has pointed out that the addiction of drug takes place mainly because of the peer group and because of the youth who make it a way of business," he added.

Last week, Vijay Sampla, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment and Punjab BJP chief, had claimed that less than one per cent of the state's population were addicts.