"The problem is that these Punjab ministers are so away from ground realities. Whenever they go in public, they are always surrounded by their security guards, nobody is allowed to meet them, and so, they do not even know the truth, and neither do they want to know about it," Phoolka told ANI.
He rejected Punjab Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani's contention that only around one percent of the state's youth is drug addicts and that some vested interests are trying to malign Punjab's image.
Phoolka said: "Let me remind Mr Jyani that this is last year, a judge of the Supreme Court Justice Sikri, former High Court judge Justice Chan and five other sitting judges of the high court took out a march in Bhatinda in scorching heat in month of May to spread awareness that drug use is a rampant problem in Punjab."
Phoolka further questioned Jyani about what vested interest could a Supreme Court judge have, adding that the march was an attempt to create awareness and find a solution to the problem of drug addiction.
"It is a deep rooted problem and to find a solution to it and make people and the public and the government aware of it (the march was carried out), and now, today, Mr Jyani to say that somebody has a vested interest now Mr Giyani what vested interest the judge of the supreme court could have," said Phoolka.
Phoolka further urged the Punjab Health Minister to check the long queues outside de-addiction centres to know the ground realities.
"Check the de-addiction centres, so many people are going there and in government de-addiction centres either there are locks, or no doctors or where there are doctors there are no medicines and such long queues of people. This only shows that Health Minister does not know what the truth is or he is intentionally giving wrong statements to misguide the people."
Earlier on Monday, Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani claimed that a survey conducted in ten districts of Punjab revealed that only 1.8 percent of the population is addicted to drugs.
"We had conducted a survey in ten districts of Punjab. It shows that 1.8 percent of the population is addicted to drugs; we didn't conduct the survey in all the 22 districts of the state," Jyani told the media in Amritsar, during a function on International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking at the Swami Vivekananda Drug De-addiction centre.
He also said that the ruling dispensation in Punjab is committed to tackle the drug menace.
-Source ANI