Ludhiana: Despite past police crackdowns, illegal de-addiction facilities continue to proliferate across the district’s rural fringes, exploiting vulnerable families through word-of-mouth networks and unauthorised pamphlet distributions.Health department officials claim that illicit operators target outer areas and villages deliberately, leveraging local gaps in awareness. In a recent crackdown, Ladhowal police arrested three men on May 27 for running an unapproved rehabilitation centre at Kutbelwal village on Humaran Road.Acting on a complaint from the village sarpanch — who reported inmates escaping at night to consume drugs openly — cops raided the property. The suspects failed to produce operating licences. Police found 20 addicts crammed into the facility without proper medical infrastructure, each charged between ₹10,000 and ₹15,000.The operators claimed to be sourcing treatments from Ludhiana’s civil hospital. Their 14 inmates fled before police arrived.In a similar joint raid on April 11, Ludhiana’s police and health department teams had shut down an unapproved facility at Sareeh village and transferred rescued inmates to the civil hospital in Jagraon.Deputy medical commissioner Dr Varun Saggar said Ludhiana had 33 authorised facilities — three govt-run and 30 monitored private centres, covering both urban and rural zones.“Othree government de-addiction centers including one in Ludhiana civil hospital, Jagraon and Samrala. Ludhiana district has 30 private de-addiction centres on which the authorities keep a regular check. These 30 centres are located in all different parts of the district, covering both rural and urban areas,” Dr. Saggar said.Addressing the recurring issue, Dr. Saggar added, “Usually it is seen that illegal de-addiction centers open in rural areas. It is suspected that the miscreants find people in rural areas ignorant or hesitant enough and manage to persuade them to admit the addicts in their centers.”Urban facilities face different illicit networks. Past police operations exposed insiders smuggling controlled substances, including a February 2024 Sarabha Nagar arrest of a rehab employee who stole 36,000 intoxicating pills to sell to addicts, alongside major Anti-Narcotics Task Force crackdowns in April 2019 and October 2022.
