Sona Ram Choudhary seeks opium high to attract voters

Supply of opium has joined the list of traditional electoral issues of water, hospitals, roads, education and power in the second largest constituency of the country Barmer.

One of the issues, albeit not a major one, in this border constituency is increasing supply of 'doda posta' (opium husk) to which thousands of residents are addicted. Every morning, one could see serpentine queues of people outside the licenced shops to purchase their quota. 'Doda posta' is a waste product of poppy harvest.

The demand is so much so that BJP candidate Col Sona Ram Choudhary had to request Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje during a public meeting here to ensure its supply in the area.

When contacted, Choudhary tried to justify his demand saying there should be adequate supply for the licence holders. "It was a demand of the people which I put forth before the Chief Minister. There was a shortage in supply of 'doda' resulting in long queues of people who waited outside licenced shops. So, I requested to streamline the supply for genuine users which are mostly elderly people," he said.

Aam Aadmi Party candidate Mangi Lal Gaur said although 'doda' is not a major election issue, it is indeed used by political parties to woo the voters. "They hold large lunches and dinners in villages where workers and voters are offered the drink. This helps them in getting votes during elections," Gaur said.

According to statistics of the excise department, there are only 2,817 permit holders in the district who are allowed to purchase opium husk from 22 licenced shops here but their actual numbers are much higher.

Every addict is allowed to purchase according to the quota allocated for them by medical experts. The quota ranges from a kg to 10 kg per person.  "In 2001, last set of 5,000 permits were issued.

Since then no new permits have been issued. Every year the permit holder has to renew it. The quota is fixed as per the advice of the medical expert who certifies a person to be addict. This recommendation is cleared by a committee on the basis of which permit is renewed," District Excise Officer M R Punia told PTI.