25,000 Delhi school children addicted to drugs: Congress MP

New Delhi: Concerns were raised in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday over children falling into the trap of drugs, with a Congress Member saying that 25,000 school children in Delhi have turned drug addicts.

Raising the issue through a Zero Hour mention, T Subbarami Reddy said 25,000 school children in Delhi are addicted to drugs while police has turned a blind eye to the menace.

He said narcotics were easily available and destroying the lives of innocent children not only in Delhi but in the entire North India.He said 83 per cent of drug addicts were educated but state governments was not able to control the problem due to presence of the drug mafia.

He said recently the issue was deliberated upon by chief ministers of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.He said it was a serious cause of concern that drugs are smuggled into India through nations like Pakistan and Nigeria and said there was a need for coordination between different agencies besides NIA to tackle the menace.

Many members associated with the demand to check the increasing drug menace in the country. Raising another issue, Prabhakar Reddy Vemireddy expressed concern over illegal organ trade, saying India has emerged as one of the biggest nations for organ trade with availability of organs like kidney, liver and heart.

He demanded strictest actions against perpetrators of such crime, saying even doctors involved in it should be dealt with strictly. Demanding death penalty for people involved in illegal organ trade, he said there should be a bill to stop it.

A demand was made by Manas Ranjan Bhunia (Trinamool Cong) to fix the criteria of physical disability to 50 per cent for getting various benefits from the 80 per cent at present. Raising the issue, Bhunia said lack of support was a serious situation for physically challenged men, women and children as the criteria for compensation etc. was applicable only in cases of 80 per cent disability.