Nawan Punjab Party (NPP) chief Dr Dharamvir Gandhi Friday reiterated his support to farmers demanding legalization of opium poppy cultivation in Punjab. The former AAP MP also attended an awareness rally organized by such farmers during Chhapar Mela in Ludhiana. During last year’s Chhapar Mela, Ludhiana rural police had filed a daily diary report (DDR) against Gandhi after he along with farmers allegedly sowed poppy opium seeds as mark of protest demanding lifting of ban on its cultivation. However, no FIR was registered as it was ‘symbolic protest’ and seeds weren’t sown in commercial quantity. On Friday, Gandhi said that unlike heroin and smack, which are leading to deaths of youths, poppy husk or opium were not deadly and it was time that Punjab government should allow farmers to cultivate and sell this crop. He added that the drug mafia was still very much active under the Congress rule as it was during SAD-BJP regime. He said that government must conduct a proper survey of addicts so that they could be provided opium or poppy husk instead of synthetic drugs. “Even some politicians consume opium. If they can, why can’t addicts can’t?,” he asked. “Addicts need help, not punishment in jails. What is the problem if farmers grow khas khas (poppy),” he said. Bains rallies for water dues recovery Meanwhile, members of the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) formed a human chain at the mela to demand recovery of Punjab’s water dues from Rajasthan, which party MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains claimed was more than Rs 16 lakh crore. He said that it was the right of Punjab to collect charges if it was supplying water to other states but successive SAD-BJP and Congress governments have ignored it.
