You may call them the incorrigible ‘lotus eaters’ of Himachal Pradesh. They flaunt lavish lifestyle that they have got by making ‘fast buck’.

A visit to Channi Majra, twin Panchayats in Kangra district of HP towards Punjab’s Pathankot area, makes it clearer.

With a population of around 2,500, the area, which houses a traditional community settled here from Rajasthan, is all along notorious for alleged over- indulgence in illicit ‘lahan’ (liquor made from Jaggery) extraction in crudest of ways.

For decades, majority locals here have faced cases for bootlegging, with women as equal partners. The Police destroyed drums and drums of illegal liquor in the area and arrested them every now and then. But all this did not deter them.

In recent years, with Punjab becoming the hub of drug trafficking through Afghanistan and Pakistan, a number of Channi Majra residents left bootlegging and allegedly took to more lucrative trade of narcotics and synthetic drugs.

The figures with Kangra Police corroborate it.

From 2008 to 2015, the cases of ND&PS (Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act and Drugs and Cosmetics Act showed a consistent rise from 21 to 93 in a year and the persons arrested from 32 to 107 in Channi Majra.

The 2016 data showed a big leap as the cases registered under ND&PS and the Drugs and Cosmetic Act were 362, with 443 arrests against 358 cases and 434 arrests in previous eight years. Besides, the Kangra Police, which led the government take up amendment in Drugs and Cosmetics Act, identified 45 properties last year, freezing five of them worth crores of Rupees. Drugs like heroine and synthetic capsules have been seized from here.

“Channi Majra is worst affected in Kangra district in drug pedalling. Majority people here don’t want to work and they look for easy money. These people are not only trading, but are also consuming drugs,” Kangra district Police chief, Sanjeev Gandhi told The Statesman. He said their networking for drugs is with their relatives settled across the states.

Gandhi, who has tightened the noose around the drug peddlers in Kangra, the biggest district of HP on Punjab border, even set up a female narcotic cell to nab women drug peddlers in border villages, including Bhadroya and Mand.

“We may have big houses and foreign travels to boast, but life has just been that of ‘hide and seek’ with lurking Police fear,” said a local, who left the illicit liquor business to run a dhaba in early 90s. “Not many are able to do it as they avoid struggle for money,” he summed.

One can see the vicious cycle working on ground. More than 80 per cent residents here are still illiterate, only due to their mindset. The area has so far produced a school teacher and few Police cops.