Economy

Haryana Assembly Polls: Migration via ‘dunki’ route, drug abuse echo loud among voters



On the road from Ambala to Delhi, the skyline of the grand trunk road is dotted with big banners announcing ‘Chalo Cannada’ put up by immigration agents. As the journey takes a turn to the interiors of Sirsa, along the Delhi-Sirsa highway, the message on the village walls is quite different. It is painted with addresses and doctors for ‘Nasha Chudwao’ (drug de-addiction). The writing on the wall is clear in election-bound Haryana: the twin problems plaguing the state are rising unemployment forcing the youth to leave the state, and the drug menace.

Talk to the hukka-smoking elders playing cards in villages or those on their morning jogs in urban parks, the issue of migration of youth, especially through the ‘dunki’ route and drugs feature prominently. Dunki or the mule route, is the slang used to gain unauthorised entry into the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

Angoor Devi, in her early 60s, at Narukhera village near Karnala asks her husband Chand Singh whether their son Vikas has called or not. Smoking a hukka, along with others from the village, Singh says he was still waiting for his call. A Jat, Singh who owns six acres, says the land he has is just sufficient for his entire family. “Aage ka bhi toh sochna pade hai, Yehi soch ke chora bahar chala gaya dunki mar ke (But we have to think about the future as well, that’s why my son went abroad),” Singh says.

Roshan Lal, who was sitting near Singh, says “apnae lugai payengi manas milengi hi nahin (In several houses you will find women, not young boys)” as they have gone abroad. The same is the story in Bastora village near Gharaunda, where there is a significant presence of the Ror community. In Shahabad from where many hockey players, especially women players, have come, Gurudev Kamboj, a local transporter, says ‘nasha’ (drug abuse) is spreading fast among youngsters so is the craze to go abroad.

Among those going abroad are also youth from affluent Jat families, Punjabis and other castes. People from relatively weaker economic background opt for the Dunki route.


On the Delhi-Sirsa highway which connects with Punjab, the drug abuse issue becomes more acute. And many feel Dera Sacha Sauda‘s efforts, especially by the predecessors of current head, on drugs de-addiction still help the religious institution, despite all the controversies to hold some sway in the region. Head of Dera Sacha Sauda, Ram Rahim Singh, is accused of murder and rape, and keeps coming out on parole, especially during election time.Standing at the main market in Dadu Sahib village of Kalanwali, Rajwant Singh Sandhu points at a wall painting talking about drug de-addiction and says, “eh sada sab to vada mudda (this is our biggest issue.)”According to Haryana government’s health department data, during 2013-2019 Sirsa recorded more than half of the drug abuse cases — the cases were also higher in nearby Fatehabad district as well.



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