In a major development, private drug de-addiction centres of Punjab have come under the scanner of the Vigilance Bureau (VB). Out of 177 private drug de-addiction centres of Punjab, 97 are under the lens of VB due to the ongoing corruption that has been unraveled after Dr. Amit Bansal's arrest. The rehab centres have been under the scanner after the arrest of Dr. Amit Bansal. D.r Amit Bansal's arrest has revealed the dark reality of the drug de-addiction business.
The VB has unearthed that most private rehab centres are resorting to malpractices, in collusion with the regulatory authorities, to make huge profits. After the malpractices were unraveled by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, VB Chief Director Varinder Kumar wrote to Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha and urged him to review of providing licences to private centres.
Talking to True Scoop, Punjab Vigilance Bureau chief Varinder Kumar said, "The aim of granting licence to private centres is to cure addicts by providing medicine/tablets containing Buprenorphine and Naloxone salt. While the medicine is provided free in government de-addiction centres, it is to be sold at Rs 17 per tablet at private ones. But these private centres are charging between Rs 40 and Rs 400 a tablet. The demand is so high that some pharmaceutical companies have established up to 30 drug de-addiction centres to promote their brand."
As per reports, there are a total of seven lakh registered drug addicts and 199 de-addiction centres out of which 177 are privately owned.
The arrest of Dr. Amit Bansal who owns one such de-addiction centre has unraveled many truths.
The VB Chief further revealed that a list of 97 of the 177 private centres have been provided. All these drug rehab centres are being run by 10 individuals. Among them are Dr Bansal who owns 22 centres, while Rohit Thakkar and Manjit Singh of Nabha own 21 centres each, Satpal Singh owns 12, and Mahajan group of Pathankot owns 11 and Inderpal Singh the rest.
“These drug de-addiction centres have been turned into business ventures...This only the tip of the iceberg. The drug deaddiction industry is booming on the pretext of social service. Drug factories, de-addiction centre owners, drug inspectors, police, and civil administration, everyone is part of this business model," added VB Chief Varinder Kumar.