CHANDIGARH-Congress today strongly opposed the Aam Aadmi Party government’s proposal to carry out the “Drug and Socio-Economic Census” in the state, questioning its real purpose and warning that it will stigmatise the entire Punjab.
In a statement, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring questioned the real purpose of the “census”. He said, it was actually the AAP’s exercise to collect the data of the people ahead of the elections, at the cost of state exchequer.
Questioning the logic of such a census, he asked, which family will reveal to the enumerators that any of their members is hooked to drugs? “It is a strictly private and confidential matter and nobody would like to go public about it”, he pointed out, while adding, if the real purpose is really to collect the data about drug addicts it will fail.
Besides, he added, since the “census” is being carried out after the so called, ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’, the government may come with “self congratulatory” figures that the number of addicts has come down, which actually has not.
He pointed out, the health department already has complete data about the number of drug addicts in the state. He noted that de-addiction is properly monitored and regulated in Punjab and the government has all the figures as each addict getting treatment is supposed to provide his ‘Aadhar’ card.
The PCC president observed that the AAP actually wants to collect the data of the entire state, which it will use for the purpose of ensuing assembly elections which are scheduled within less than a year from now, by using the official machinery and resources.
Warring said, drug addiction is a sensitive health condition, which demands strict privacy. Privacy is the right of every patient getting any sort of treatment, he said, adding, the drug census will expose such patients and they will face social stigma.
Besides, he added, not only will the individual addicts and their families feel stigmatized, the “census” will “certify” the entire state of Punjab as the drug capital of the country. “Why is the AAP hell bent on defaming the state?” he asked, while advising caution and discretion while dealing with such sensitive matters.