Manipur: Community Network for Empowerment (CoNE), a network of former drug-users, claimed that some private rehab centres in Manipur are indulging in extortion by kidnapping drug-users. The modus operanti, according to CoNE, is kidnapping and extorting money from the parents in exchange.

“Despite of such crimes which even led to death of inmates in few cases, the state’s social welfare department has not formulated regulatory mechanism to monitor the mushrooming private rehab centres in the state which has a high prevalence of drug users,” said a leader of CoNE.

“Drug users are a marginalized section of a society. According to current trends, few private rehab centres are turning their plights into a source of income by exploiting the prevailing social stigma,” said RK Nalinikanta, a leader of CoNE who revealed that the government of Manipur has not laid down any protocol to be followed by the 49 private drug treatment or re-hab centres currently operating in the state. Nalinikanta further added that this situation has led to mushrooming of private rehab centres, purely driven by profit motive.

Manipur has an estimate of 50,000 drug users and has only 19 rehab centres run by the government while there are 49 are private centres run without proper guidelines and regulations.

So far, CoNE with association with other NGOs working in drug related field like SASO, User Manipur and Kripa Foundation have made four recommendations. These include proper capacity building of staffs in rehab centres, regulation of private rehab centres by social welfare department, set up of state specific guidelines to be followed by privately run rehab centres and strengthen special unit of SLSA with participation of representatives from PUD and CSOs.

While the Social Welfare department is taking its own time to act upon these recommendations, CoNE has alleged that several cases of human rights violation and a few cases of death of inmates have occurred in the private rehabs centres located at Churachandpur, Bishnupur and Imphal West districts over the past 2-3 years.

With the ulterior motive of few private rehab centres coming to light, it is high that the affairs of all the privately run rehabs centres in the state be investigated into by concerned authority to allow them to be a place of rehabilitation and reform and not a death trap.