Chandigarh, July 10 – Union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today asked Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh not to subject women government employees to dope tests as announced by him, saying this could have a traumatic effect on their psychology besides resulting in their stigmatization.
In a statement here, the Union minister said she was of the strong view that the very idea of a dope tests for all government employees was a diversionary tactic to deflect attention from the government’s abject failure to control the drug menace. “What Punjab needs right now is a curb on drug trafficking and strengthening of de-addiction centres as well as a rehabilitation package for former addicts. What it is getting is photo ops of dope tests which if implemented on three lakh government employees annually will cost the exchequer between Rs 15 to 20 crore, something which it can ill afford”.
Mrs Badal in case the chief minister was still bent upon subjecting government employees to drug tests as he had stated yesterday, then women employees should be exempted from the same. “Women employees constitute nearly 35 to 40 per cent of the government cadre strength and have nothing to do with the drug menace sweeping the State. Subjecting them to tests which could even result in positive results due to medication will stigmatize them and cause further turmoil in society. If Capt Amarinder puts himself in the shoes of the families of women who will have to face the humiliation and ridicule of such tests he might reverse his decision. It will also save Punjabis from being labelled unfairly as suspect drug addicts”.
Mrs Badal also asked the Congress government to scrap the proposal to make dope tests mandatory for all candidates contesting the forthcoming panchayat elections. She said as fifty per cent seats had been reserved for women they would now be at the receiving end in case the dope test results were manipulated due to political reasons.
Asking the government to review its entire exercise, the union minister said dope tests should be conducted randomly on government employees, particularly those who were engaged in public dealing. She said only random tests could bring results as even drug addicts could pass planned tests taken as per their choice.
The Bathinda mp said attempts were being made to change the focus of the drug narrative in Punjab through advocacy of the death penalty clause and now dope tests. “The real issue of stopping the spate of deaths occurring due to sharp increase in drug incidence and need to apply balm to the souls of wailing mothers seems to have been forgotten by the Congress government. I urge Capt Sahib to show the necessary political will and deliver on the oath he took on the holy Gutka to wipe out drugs from the State. We can’t waste any more time on dope test photo-ops or else we will be forced to ask for polygraph tests of Congress leaders to fish out the lies they have told to the people of Punjab”,Mrs Badal added.
Jangveer Singh.
