Dealing with drugs: How Haryana plans to change hearts and minds
The initiative will be named 'Hriday Parivartan Abhiyan' and the aim is to bring about a behavioural change in drug addicts or peddlers
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As the police teams are getting in touch with village communities for the implementation of the programme, the ADGP added, "The ceremony will be more than just a strategy against drug peddling; it is also a socio-cultural campaign that seeks to heal and rebuild communities." (Representational/ File)Haryana’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is set to roll out a new programme this month where drug peddlers and consumers would have to take a vow of complete renunciation of drugs before village communities and pandits by putting “salt in the pot” in a ceremony.
Haryana Additional Director General of Police O P Singh, who heads the NCB unit, told The Indian Express that the initiative would be named ‘Hriday Parivartan Abhiyan’ (Heart Change Campaign), and the aim is to bring about a behavioural change in drug addicts or peddlers.
“After identifying drug peddlers and consumers in a village, they will be brought before the village community, elders and a pandit. In front of everyone, they will be informed about the damage that drugs are doing to them, their families and the community. Not just this, if they are doing it (drug peddling) for livelihood, they will be made aware that there are several schemes of the government for those below poverty lines.”
“After telling them about the damages and how the state is going tough against drug peddlers and they won’t be able to ever come out of jail (if punished), the ceremony would be done by respectable village elderlies. They will be asked to renunciate (drugs) in the ceremony by putting salt in a pot. It will be followed by an oath taken before village deities and the community. It would be a symbolic renunciation in front of such gatherings in all villages,” Singh said.
As the police teams are getting in touch with village communities for the implementation of the programme, the ADGP added, “The ceremony will be more than just a strategy against drug peddling; it is also a socio-cultural campaign that seeks to heal and rebuild communities.”
3,500 drug traffickers caught this year, 90% small-time suppliers
This year, the NCB, in coordination with the Haryana law enforcement agencies, has caught over 3,500 drug traffickers in the first 11 months alone. However, as per data, a striking revelation surfaced that 90 per cent of these arrests involved small-scale suppliers, often driven to the trade by poverty or addiction.
Recognising the need for a more sustainable solution, Singh said, “The innovative program focuses on these small quantity drug suppliers, offering them a path out of the illegal trade and into a life of dignity and legal employment.”
Top 10 districts in Haryana in terms of drug cases (January 1 to December 8, 2023)
| District | FIR | Arrests |
| Sirsa | 533 | 529 |
| Faridabad | 334 | 334 |
| Gurgaon | 238 | 237 |
| Kurukshetra | 205 | 204 |
| Fatehabad | 204 | 201 |
| Ambala | 160 | 160 |
| Yamunanagar | 167 | 167 |
| Hisar | 148 | 147 |
| Rohtak | 140 | 140 |
| Panchkula | 131 | 131 |
| Total | 3523 | 3472 |
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