In view of the recurring instances of hooch consumption in Ahmedabad, the Gujarat Police have decided to ‘detoxify’ the people from liquor addiction.

As part of their initiative to curb alcoholism, the Gujarat Police have included Nashabandhi Mandal, a city-based de-addiction centre with several hospitals across the state, to actively start de-addiction programmes in the state.

Director General of Police S S Khandwawala told The Indian Express on Sunday: “After the tragic hooch deaths in Ahmedabad, the state government had decided to start de-addiction centres across Gujarat. But Gujarat Police thought of strengthening the existing de-addiction centres to tackle the problem.”

He added: “We selected various agencies to tackle the problem. For instance, the Prohibition Department was asked to control the sale of chemicals from industries and liquor brewing in the state. In order to uproot the problem, we thought of including Nashabandhi Mandal to work at the grassroots level on this subject.”

The Nashabandhi Mandal, as per the decision, has chalked out their programme for Ahmedabad city, which would be later extended to other major cities and districts in Gujarat.

With the Interrogated Rehabilitation Centre for Addicts (IRCA), the de-addiction hospital in Ahmedabad that operates on a large scale, the organisation has another five de-addiction hospitals across the state in Rajkot, Surat, Nadiad, Bharuch and Banaskantha.

Harvadan Parmar, the secretary of Nashabandhi Mandal, said: “We have formed a team of two counsellors, one doctor, one nurse and one ward boy.

They will visit those neighbourhoods in Ahmedabad that are the most vulnerable to alcohol addiction. We will also take help from the Urban Development Centres of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. We have made a list of people who died in the hooch tragedy and have the pockets from where we will begin first.”

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