FATEHGANJ: APT SCENE FOR YOUTH TO GO ON DOPE

VADODARA - Once a camp for the British army, Fatehganj was turned into
a residential locality when the empire collapsed. Those days few
people lived here.

Gradually, small shops sprouted, some more houses came up and
horse-carts frisked on the muddy stretch of road providing the vital
link to railway station.

This was in the 1950s. Fifty-three years down the line, Fatehgunj has
undergone complete transformation. Restaurants, hostels, cafes, a huge
park and a university campus have turned the once sleepy pocket into a
lively place.

Young boys and girls mingle and roam around freely. Evenings bring out
a flood of youngsters onto the roads while the nights provide an apt
ambience for that drag at the chillum, or grass or a pint of rum.
Welcome to Vadodara's Mumbai.

Local consulting psychiatrist Dr Ismail Pala says, "Fatehgunj provides
a conducive environment for youngsters willing to experiment with
drugs. Hostelites are more open to experimentation. Locals imitate
them and soon drugs become a group or party culture."

He occasionally comes across students who take cannabis and charas.
Some of them, Dr Pala says, also take opium derivatives.

"A commerce student who had approached me was caught in cocaine-a very
expensive substance. This boy told me he buys one gram of cocaine for
Rs 14,000," Dr Pala added. In another case, a fine arts student,
hooked to brown sugar, had i n -curred a debt of Rs 80,000 in the
effort to sustain the habit.

The boy was treated locally for de-addiction, recovered, but sadly
enough, again turned to drugs. This time around, he sold off his
girl-friend's vehicle and when the debt rose he fled to Pune.

Similarly, a 17-year-old girl, addicted to psychotropic tablets-30
tablets a day-too had come for counselling. The girl confessed that
she picked up the habit from a Fatehgunj group. Professor H C Shukul,
former counsellor with MSU Marg counselling centre, said youngsters
experiment with drugs to gain a different identity.

"In Fatehgunj, all their desires are fulfilled", professor Shukul
said. `Some of the fine arts students who were into the habit
confessed taking drugs because it 'triggered their creativity', he
added.

The 'appealing' environment, due to the unusually high numbers of
youngsters in Fatehgunj, makes the area a suitable prey base for
unscrupulous drug peddlers.

"There are more cases of brown sugar consumption in Fatehgunj than in
any other area of the city.," says Sonia Kaul, a counsellor with S C
Patel Trust-a centre for de-addiction.

Also, Fatehgunj's proximity to the EME campus makes liquor available
easily and adds to the dubious distinction of the area.

Those who have tried drugs confide 10 gram of charas is available for
Rs 400-600. Grass is available for Rs 100.

A small quantity of brown sugar can be procured for Rs 1,400. It is
alleged that the stock of drug is supplied by elements operating from
Yakutpura, Fatehpura, Sayajigunj and Panigate.