Dehradun-based social worker, Saurabh Malhotra is in the vanguard of an anti-drugs movement in the Himalayan foothills of Uttarakhand (pop.8.5 million), to counter the spreading contagion of substance abuse in the state. Under the auspices of Nijaat, an NGO promoted by him in 2002, Malhotra counsels and rehabilitates 125 addicts annually.

Nijaat was conceived in 1998 after Malhotra spent almost a year with Sanchar, another Dehradun-based NGO helping substance users to staunch this deadly craving. Now ten years later, Nijaat is staffed by four counsellors, a doctor, psychologist, two visiting counsellors from Kentucky and Oregon in the US and 11 other employees. The centre is funded by the Bethany Charitable Trust, Mumbai, which provides two-thirds of the running expenditure, with the remainder contributed by those who can afford to pay.

Malhotra’s commitment and calling is born out of his own experience. A student of Delhi Public School, he took to smoking and drinking when he was only eight years of age. Despite being forced to take the class X board exams privately before joining South Delhi Public School to finish his Plus Two, he pressed on to acquire an MBA from the Technical University, Berlin, during  which time he became addicted to prescription drugs. But he had the good sense to sign up with Juedisches Krankenhaus — a rehabilitation centre which cured him of his addiction. After returning to India in 1994, he found his vocation in social causes, particularly in the rescue and rehabilitation of drug addicts.

Says Malhotra, recollecting his initial struggles with project funding: “While working with Sanchar, many recovering addicts required hospitalisation, but due to paucity of facilities in Dehradun, we had to send them to Delhi. The blueprint of Nijaat included a residential facility, an outpatients department and a full contingent of doctors, counsellors and support staff, all of which required substantial funding. I chanced upon an Indian-American Roger Seth who was working for rehab of commercial sex workers in Delhi and Stephen Chan, a reformed smuggler from Hong Kong looking to contribute to society. They agreed to fund the project which took off subsequently, with individuals, local schools and charities contributing as well,” recalls Malhotra. Nijaat has also been working closely with the Uttarakhand government, conducting workshops on drug abuse and HIV prevention.

Meanwhile Malhotra is gearing up to stabilise and expand Nijaat’s operations by acquiring a new building, opening a women’s centre, a rehab facility for alcoholism and a midway home for those who want to stay on after treatment, if their families are unwilling to accept them.

Wind beneath your wings!

Natasha Pathak (Dehradun)