Punjab village 'for sale' over drug menace
CHANDIGARH: Following the brutal attack by alleged drug peddlers on an ex-serviceman on Sunday in Bakhtaur village in Bathinda district of Punjab has prompted villagers to put up a sign declaring, "Our Village is for Sale."
Lakhbir Singh, a farmer from Bhai Bakhtaur village in Bathinda district on Sunday posted a hand-written banner at the village entrance which read `` Our Village is For Sale '' (Saada pind vikau hai). This step was taken after a day after ex-serviceman Ranbir Singh was allegedly brutally thrashed by two men, Kuldeep Singh and Gurpreet Singh involved in drug cases. Lakhbir also posted a video denouncing the attack and accusing the police of failing to protect villagers from drug violence.
According to Bathinda SP Amneet Kondal, Singh had reportedly been urging youths to leave drugs and play sports. This message appears to have triggered local drug peddlers. Singh is presently admitted in a hospital at Bathinda. Police have arrested both accused and booked them on charges of attempted murder, unlawful restraint, and causing grievous hurt, he added
Vineet Joshi, media head of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Punjab, alleged that on June 1, three people died of drug overdoses in different villages across the state—Deharka (Ludhiana district), Rodikpura (Faridkot district), and Senia (Fazilka district). Meanwhile, in Bakhtaur village in Bathinda, frustrated residents put up a sign reading, "Our Village is for Sale", in a desperate protest against the unchecked drug menace.
'This reflects the grim reality behind the so-called 'War Against Drugs' and exposes the failure of the AAP government's May 31 deadline to make Punjab drug-free. The message 'Sadda Pind Bikau Hai' is not a political slogan—it's a cry of anguish from a village gripped by fear and helplessness. Today, shopkeepers, labourers, and even women in rural Punjab feel unsafe. While farmers and protesters are swiftly arrested—sometimes along with their mothers and sisters—drug traffickers continue to roam free, even with multiple cases pending against them,' Joshi said.
Punjab's situation is now worse than Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. villagers live in fear of "Chitta" (heroin) smugglers, who openly threaten them. We are not political workers, nor affiliated with any party, but things have gone too far now," said a youth in a viral video, where he praised UP CM Yogi Adityanath for his crackdown on criminals.
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