Chak Drab Khan, a village in Kathua infamous for making illicit liquor for decades and known for continuous raids on controlling the menace is now the hub of heroin smuggling.
The growing heroin smuggling in the village has posed serious challenges to the security forces as well as the villagers who have expressed concern.
“The situation has turned alarming with increased chitta (heroin) smuggling,” said prominent social worker and Panch Chak Drab Khan, Geeta Devi.
Devi worked among the local families to motivate them to stop making illicit liquor, a practice that existed in the village even before 1947.
“When India got independence in 1947, our condition remained unchanged. Some people here in the village are involved in making illicit liquor to meet basic needs. The village has become infamous for making illicit liquor and an increase in drug peddling cases,” she said.
Devi said that she along with other women of the village had worked in coordination with the local Police but failed to motivate all the families to bring them out of this menace.
“The people have no other source of earning. No job is being given to them when people outside come to know that they are from Chak Drab Khan. Our village is infamous and the youth are facing the consequences,” she said.
Devi said that the only source of earning in the village was making illicit liquor and selling it.
“The people do not abandon this work which is illegal and has consumed many lives. The government should come out with some plan to help the village,” she said.
Devi said that many women had lost their husbands due to consumption of illicit liquor but those widows were still involved in making liquor.
“What else can they do if they leave this work? They don’t have any option. Forget liquor, now the youth are involved in drug smuggling, particularly heroin. How can we stop them without support from the government agencies and people in the village,” she said.
She said that not everyone in the village was involved in illicit liquor making or smuggling.
“Only a section is involved and it has brought a bad name for the entire village. Our youth are not getting jobs. When they apply for a job, they show that they live in some other village but not Chak Drab Khan,” Devi said.
Another woman, who wished not to be quoted, said, “My husband makes illicit liquor. But it is not a challenge. We have a new challenge – heroin smuggling. It has destroyed many families and young lives.”
She said that once people come to know that they were from this village, they hardly give employment to them.
“We do not see any future,” she said.
Krishan Kumar, another resident of the village, said, “The elders of some families were also involved in the making of illicit liquor before partition. Later, it was adopted by their next generations. However, some have left it after they got government jobs. The situation is different nowadays. Come to our village and you will find how prosperity has come to some of the families who are involved in heroin smuggling.”
He said poor families in the village had no other option except liquor making or drug peddling.
A senior Police officer said, “These are social problems. These (drugs) are being sent by the enemy country with a design in border areas. We are working on it with the help of the community.”