PAU students stage a protest at Bharat Nagar Chowk in Ludhiana Sunday. (Express photo by Gurmeet Singh) PAU students stage a protest at Bharat Nagar Chowk in Ludhiana Sunday. (Express photo by Gurmeet Singh)

Observing a ‘Black Week’ (July 1-7), people staged protests across the state against government inaction on drug menace. This apolitical protest movement ‘Chittey De Virodh Vich Kaala Hafta’, with the tagline, Maro Jaan Virodh Karo (either die or speak against drugs) was started after a spate of drug related deaths were reported from across the state in June.

In Ludhiana, the protest was led by some students from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and other institutions as they stood at city’s central point, Bharat Nagar Chowk. Saravjot Singh, one of the students from PAU said, “Ours was a completely silent protest. Whenever the vehicles stopped at traffic signal, people read our banners and appreciated them. We also had some stickers with ‘Chittey De Virodh Vich Kaala Hafta’ written on them. We did not force anyone to put those stickers. They were pasted only on the request of commuters.”

Advocate Hakam Singh, one of the initiators of the movement, was in Barnala, Bathinda, Patiala and Mansa to participate in several protests organized by different groups. “Today was the first day of our black week against drugs and we got excellent response to our non-political pressure group formed against drugs in Punjab. The motive was to encourage people to speak against drug peddlers in their areas which has been achieved. This problem cannot be solved by depending on government only,” he said.

Christian community led by local pastors also held a protest march at Bathinda’s Prayer Tower in Rama Mandi. Black flags and bands were also distributed among people in Patti and Bhikhiwind towns in Majha region which witnessed maximum drug deaths recently. Several villages in Muktsar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Sangrur, Faridkot, Malout, Fazilka and other districts of Malwa belt also statged protests.

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is under fire from all corners for failing to fulfil his pre-poll promise of eliminating drugs from Punjab within ‘four weeks’.

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