In Haryana, villages are fighting back against drugs
Villages in Haryana, India, are organizing community-led patrols known as 'thekri pehra' to combat the rising drug crisis in the region. Local councils have implemented strict penalties for drug peddling to protect their communities from the influx of substances.
Why it matters
This highlights a grassroots response to the growing public health and social crisis of substance abuse in rural India.
O n the side of a busy road cutting through Rajthal village in Haryana’s Hansi district, around 150 kilometres north-west of Delhi, stands a bright red-and-white banner tied to a yellow police barricade. In bold letters in Hindi, it reads, “ Nasha ke khilaf gram panchayat Rajthal ka sakht sandesh [The strict message from the Rajthal gram panchayat (village council) against drug/substance abuse].” The warning below says: sell drugs in the village and pay ₹1 lakh; help a drug peddler get bail and pay another ₹1 lakh.
A few steps behind the barricade, men wearing white kurtas and turbans sit on red plastic chairs in a circle in the shade of a roadside tree. They are Rajthal’s round-the-clock thekri pehra (community-led vigil). Their job is to guard their village and the entire stretch against drugs.
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