NEW DELHI: The government received a total of 521 proposals for opening of de-addiction centres in the country in 2016-17 with Maharashtra sending the maximum number of proposals followed by Orissa and Assam. Maharashtra—which currently has the highest number of de-addiction centres in the country—asked the Centre to open 76 new de-addiction centres for rehabilitation of drug addicts and alcohol addicts in 2016-2017. The figures were disclosed by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla in the Lok Sabha recently.
In the Financial year 2016-2017, the government also released over Rs 46 crores for setting up of new de-addiction centres in the country in 2016-17. Maharashtra, the second most-populous state in the country also received maximum funds for running of de-addiction centres. Of the total Rs 46.70 crores released by the Central government, Maharashtra received over Rs 6 crores for rehabilitation of drugs and alcohol addicts.
Orissa—which sought 46 new de-addiction centres to be opened — received more than Rs 5 crores for running and maintaining its de-addiction centres. Delhi—which had recorded the highest number of drug seizures in India in 2016 and has eight government de-addiction centres at present—sent 11 new proposals for de-addiction centres in 2016-2017. The national capital received over Rs 1.9 for the upkeep of its centres from the Central government.
According to government data, there were eight states which did not send any proposal for new de-addiction centres in their states. These states included Chandigarh, tourist states of Goa, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, North eastern states Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. Pertinently, five of these states which are Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep and Tripura don’t have any government aided de-addiction centre.
All of these states, except Goa, received no grant from the Central government for running of the de-addiction centres. Goa received Rs 13.64 lakhs for maintenance of its sole government de-addiction centre despite sending no fresh for the opening of de-addiction centres. Meghalaya, on the other hand, did not receive any aid from Centre in 2016-2017 despite asking for two new de-addiction centres.