In absence of any provision or policy for operating drug rehabilitation centres in Dehradun, about 50 unregulated drug rehab centres have mushroomed in the district. With lack of accountability on any department for monitoring the conditions and facilities that are provided in these centres, several complaints of harsh treatment meted out to those admitted in such centres have surfaced during the past 10 years.
It is important to mention here that when asked, officials of both the district social welfare department and health department stated that they do not have any records of rehab centres.
Dehradun District Magistrate C Ravishankar said, “We will be conducting a review meeting in mid-September only after which will I be able to get a better picture of the situation here. Further actions will be taken accordingly.”
Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Arun Mohan Joshi said, “No such case has come in my knowledge. If there is a violation of law and we get information about it, we will definitely take action on that.”
Civil Judge, Senior Division, Neha Kushwaha said, “As the government rehabilitation facilities are not available we are coordinating with private bodies which are already operating in this regard. A number of these bodies are operating without registration, but we will be taking them under our wing. We will personally check their premises, facilities they are providing to ensure the standards we will be setting for them in order to ensure correct rehabilitation. This is entirely an initiative of the judiciary.”
Founder of Empowering People Society (EPS) Gyanendra Kumar said, “State government is giving permission to open a liquor factory, but they do not have the funds and time to invest for building a government drug rehabilitation centre. These private centres operating in the district should be asked through what methodology they are rehabilitating people? What medications do they provide and on whose prescription? Who is the doctor they consult with? Are these doctors qualified clinical psychologists as well? Sometimes they say that they only detoxify them through vitamins and homemade medicines, but again the safety of their method remains questionable. Each one of these centres has commercial aspect to serve.”
He further stated, “Most of the street children in Dehradun are into inhaling substances like petrol, thinner or other substance. These children start taking drugs from the age of six to seven years and by the age of 17-18 years their life span comes to an end.”
Another activist raised a question that if there are no government centres available and the private ones that are operating charge high amount as fees, what other option do parents and guardians of addicted youngsters have? He also said that a number of unregulated rehab centres beat addicts and ill treat them. The facilities they have are for limited number of people, but they enroll almost everyone who is ready to pay hefty amount.
Owner of a rehabilitation centre on the condition of anonymity said that a number of rehabilitation centres in Dehradun are using the methods devised originally for rehabilitating criminals at Tihar Jail. He said that the same methodology cannot be used now with students and others. He also said that a lot of trust funded rehab centres are charging large sum, only four of the rehab centres in the district are registered under the society registration act.
It is pertinent to mention here that in the year 2014, seven youngsters ran away from a rehabilitation centre situated at Rajpur Road. After returning home they complained of ill treatment at the centre. Observers point out that there have also been cases of suspicious deaths in some centres but due to various reasons including fear of stigma, the relatives tend to avoid complaining about the same.
