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The most pessimistic estimates state that about 30 kilograms of heroin is sold on the streets of Varanasi every fortnight. Much more is siphoned off to various other destinations within India and abroad regularly.
This illegal trade of narcotics claims every conceivable channel of authority within its sweep. From petty law enforcement officers to elected representatives of the people -- all are involved in this trade that is flourishing within the city. While the police are paid off to look the other way, some people's representatives are directly involved in the trade -- from cultivating opium to running processing plants where heroin is manufactured from opium.
The opium business is not new to Varanasi. The first factory to process opium was established by the British East India Company way back in the 18th century, thanks to then collector Robert Warlo, who established the company's first opium processing unit at Ghasipur. This unit was taken over by the government of India after independence and is now known as the Government Opium and Alkaloid Works.
The opium and its derivatives produced in this unit are far below the known quantity consumed in the city of Varanasi itself. The question arises, how does such a quantity of narcotics end up in the city and how does this illegal trade flourish? Welcome to the unholy side of Varanasi.
Varanasi is crowded and packed with people, tourists and natives. Just like any other city in over-populated India, it offers sights and sounds of a varied nature. Walking through the roads leading to the holy ghats by the banks of the River Ganga, or Ganges as it is often known, requires a certain amount of skill, as one must maneuver through thousands of people. On the streets, amidst the crowd one sees people trying to sell curios and postcards to the tourists.
The crowd is a mixture of Indians and foreigners, most of them having arrived in the city to visit either the Buddhist or the Hindu pilgrimage sites. The local police try hard to manage the crowd. Amidst this crowd one could also see policemen collecting money from small shops. This money is protection money the shopkeepers pay to the "arm of the law" to avoid being molested.
Surprised? This is what policing in Varanasi often means. One could also see police vehicles in dilapidated condition roaming the streets; every now and then people approach a police vehicle and hand over small packets to the officer inside the vehicle. These packets contain money for the police officers; again, it is protection money so those who pay will not be disturbed.
Who are these people who pay money to the police officers? They are the last link in the long chain of those who carry out the illegal narcotics trade that flourishes in Varanasi -- the drug peddlers.
When the arm of the law itself becomes infected with corruption and crime, the illegal trade flourishes. Heroin and other opium derivatives ready for the street are often brought to the city from underground manufacturing units within Uttar Pradesh. Large quantities of the drugs are manufactured either within Varanasi district or in the neighboring districts of Ghazipur, Chandauli and Bhadoi. The opium for manufacturing the drugs originates from illegal opium farms in Uttar Pradesh, from the neighboring state of Bihar, or even from far-away states like Rajasthan.
When there is an acute shortage of raw materials opium is brought from across the border from countries like Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The entire cultivating, processing and marketing ring of the narcotics trade is so complex that the authorities would have to work day and night for at least two to three years even to identify the sources.
Varanasi city itself is a never-ending mesh of gullies and alleyways. A few steps off any main road will lead into an alleyway filled with houses and small business establishments. These small gullies are interconnected. Some of them, within the heart of the city in places like Godolia, are known distribution centers for drugs. The police constables stationed in these junctions pay bribes to their superior officers to be posted here. An officer at one of these "prime locations" can make four times his monthly pay from bribes.
Recently the government of India has thrown open its borders to international tourists. Varanasi has gained from this. The Babatpur airport near the city, which initially handled mostly domestic flights and a few flights to neighboring Katmandu, now connects to yet another drug hub of the world, Bangkok. While the connection to Bangkok brings pilgrims to Varanasi, it has also opened up a new window for drug junkies to fly straight to Varanasi to get their kick. The immigration checkpoint and the customs clearance at the airport are managed in such a manner that even a criminal on the world's most wanted list could easily pass through these inexperienced officers.
The immigration checkpoint at the airport does not even have a computer database. The officers stationed at the Babatpur immigration checkpoint do not even know how to stamp a passport. The customs officers are more concerned with frisking passengers for perfumes and foreign currencies than anything else. The customs and the immigration checkpoints are grossly understaffed, so that anyone who wished to bring in or carry away a contraband article could easily do so without the slightest hassle.
Varanasi is an open market for narcotic and psychotropic substances. Unless the state and the central government immediately do something about it, the city will soon gain yet another title, the drug capital of India. Dhanpat Rai Srivastava, better known as Premchand, a great literary figure from Varanasi, once wrote that Varanasi was a city of widows and cows. The contemporary Varanasi is adding one more item to this list -- the city of drug junkies.
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(Bijo Francis is a human rights lawyer currently working with the Asian Legal Resource Center in Hong Kong. He is responsible for the South Asia desk at the center. Mr. Francis has practiced law for more than a decade and holds an advanced master's degree in human rights law.)
