As India celebrates freedom, Punjab family mourns loss of both sons to drugs | Watch
Jalandhar, August 14: As India gears up to celebrate its Independence Day with fervor and pride, a village in Punjab's Jalandhar, Mehatpur's Bangiwal Khurd, is drowning in grief. The scourge of drugs has claimed yet another life, leaving a once-thriving household in shambles. The latest tragedy marks the second loss for Dalbir Singh, a grieving father who has now lost both of his sons to drug overdoses within just two years.
In a heart-wrenching scene, combine harvesters and tractors that once symbolised the family's livelihood now stand idle. There is no one left to operate them, as the hands that once steered these machines have fallen prey to the deadly grip of dug addiction. Dalbir Singh blames a broken system and unchecked sale of drugs for the devastation that has befallen his family.
"My sons were victims of a flawed system and the rampant, open sale of drugs in our village," Dalbir Singh lamented. "We lost everything trying to save them. My younger son was beginning to turn his life around, but the availability of drugs in and around our village has no end. It consumed him."
According to Dalbir, drug dealers operate with impunity, often seen openly selling their deadly wares near the village. Even women are involved in the sale of drugs, openly selling them by the syringeful in broad daylight.
"We even conducted a sting operation with the police," said Sandeep Arora, district president of the All India Kisan Sabha and a resident of the village. "We sent a young man to purchase drugs, and the dealers were standing right in front of us. Yet, when we urged the police to take action, they told us it wasn't their jurisdiction and refused to register a case."
He questioned why the police can swiftly act against illegal sand mining and seize trucks within minutes but are hesitant to confront the drug dealers destroying the community? "The police are complicit," he alleged.
The alleged inaction of the authorities has only fueled the village’s grief and anger. Dalbir Singh’s family is not alone in their suffering; the drug epidemic has devastated countless other households, leaving a trail of sorrow and loss in its wake. Despite numerous complaints and even direct confrontations with the police, the flow of drugs into the village remains unabated.
When attempts were made to contact Jalandhar SSP Jalandhar SSP Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh regarding this matter, the calls went unanswered. However, in a press release issued by the police, they stated that following the death of Dalbir Singh's 29-year-old son Amrit Pal, action was taken against Jaswinder Singh, son of Mukhtiar Singh, a resident of Beatla in the Mehatpur police station area.
The police claim that they have taken steps following Amrit Pal's death, but the villagers remain unconvinced. For years, they say, drugs have been sold openly in their midst, yet the authorities have remained silent. "Why has it taken so long for action to be taken?" they ask. "Why have the voices of those who have lost loved ones been ignored?"
As the nation prepares to honour its independence, the people of Bangiwal Khurd are left to grapple with their own loss of freedom—the freedom from the terror of drugs that has claimed their youth and shattered their families. Dalbir Singh now faces a future where his tractors and combine harvesters, once symbols of hope and prosperity, sit idle, a grim reminder of what has been lost.
- PTC NEWS
