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With all the political parties highlighting the drug addiction issue with the youths of Punjab ahead of the state Assembly polls, it is worth noting how many houses this addiction has destroyed. Its example can be seen in the villages of the state. However, Rurka Kalan village in Jalandhar district, is a perfect example of both this problem and its solution.
The village of Rurka Kalan presents both the problem and solution. In this village, two sons of the same parents got addicted to drugs. At the same time, a youth of the village started a football club about 20 years ago to prevent youths from going on the wrong path of intoxication. The club has reached 40 surrounding villages today. A sexagenarian Kashmiro spends her days working as a cook at many places. When the team of ANI reached her place, her house was locked. She was seen working at somebody's place. Speaking to ANI, she said that she had two sons who died years ago after they were addicted to drugs. "We had two sons, one passed away 15 years ago and one died 3 years ago. One was 28 years old and the other was 26 years old. Don't know how both of them started taking drugs. Both of them died due to intoxication. My husband is sick, he cannot go anywhere to work. So, I work as a cook in others' places," she said. "Drugs destroyed many houses in Punjab. If it was not for addiction, both the sons would have been alive today and at this age, I would not have to work in the homes of others," the elderly added. Sarabjit Kaur, another woman in the village, had a similar story to tell. The only difference was that her son was at the rehabilitation centre recovering from 9 years of drug addiction. "I have two children, a son and a daughter. The daughter is married, while the son, 33, is addicted to drugs. As he is addicted to drugs, he did not get married. Now, he has been admitted to a private rehabilitation centre. A slight improvement is visible. He was intoxicated with opium for about 8-9 years," she told ANI. Expressing her anguish over the governments in the state, Kaur said that it did not do anything for the youth of the state. "Governments are not doing anything. Entire shops were closed in the lockdown, but the wine shops continued. Today I have to survive by working at others' places because of my son's drug addiction, my husband has also died," she said. In this village, we also found such a person who had just returned from the rehabilitation centre a few days ago. Gurpreet Singh, 35, said that he returned from the Centre after two months and now has given up on consuming drugs. "Earlier, I used to drink a lot of alcohol, for two months I was intoxicated continuously. But then went to the rehabilitation centre. I returned after staying there for about two months. Now, I have given up drugs and now play football in the evening," he said. Gurmangal Das of this village founded YFC (Youth Football Club) in 2001 with an aim to attract the youth who were taking up drugs in their pass time. Speaking to ANI, he said, "I was an engineer by profession. In 2001, I founded Roorka Kalan YFC. Today, about 5,000 youth from 40 surrounding villages have joined it. All of them are trained here in kabaddi, wrestling, football etc." Das said that his effort is to give the youth a positive environment so that they do not take up drugs even when offered. "Drug addiction is a problem because youth have no positivity and constructive activity to spend time away from school. They do not get such an environment and then by falling into the wrong company, they become addicted to drugs. Our effort is to give them a positive environment and make them mentally strong so that even if someone offers them drugs, they would reject it," he told ANI. Youths also come from the Rehabilitation Centre in the Youth Football Club, but Gurmangal Das said that the success rate in such cases is very low. He said, "It is our endeavour that the youth should not go towards drugs. The kids who once roamed the streets went for drugs, are the stars in football today. We have worked with around 30,000 youth till now. In order to keep the youth away from drugs, gyms have been opened. We provide training to the youth from various coaches of different sports." ANI spoke to the youth playing football here on the ground. A youth, Sandeep Kaur said that she comes to the ground every day to train for football and also convince her friends to take up the sporting activities. "We come here in free time and take football training and also convince friends in villages to come and play," she said. Interestingly, Sandeep Kaur has also played football under the Khelo India programme of the government. (ANI)
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