AHMEDABAD: The hall, full of people, had an eerie silence. They wore a worried look on their faces and were searching for a ray of hope. The participants, mostly youths, were told about physical exercises and psychological tools to control their irresistible urge. As many as 73 people got enrolled at Kanoria de-addiction center from Odhav, Amraiwadi, Bapunagar and other areas badly affected by the hooch tragedy. In a joint initiative taken by city police officials and the de-addiction centre, these end users of liquor will undergo a 15-day programme where they will stay on the centre premises and take the treatment in three stages to kick their drinking habit. Dr Rajeev Anand, psychiatrist and head of psychology team, who is supervising the programme, told TOI that it is a unique and timely step. "The hooch tragedy is an eye-opener for the society. Liquor does not harm a single person - it destroys entire families. Apart from physical health, it is threat to economic and social health of an addict. We, as an institution, not only get cases from the lower strata but also from the well-off people who get addicted to IMFL," said Anand. According to Anand, withdrawal symptoms are most difficult to tackle. "When you suddenly stop doing your routine work, you feel a void in your life. When an addict doesn't get his dope, he wants to get back. We insist on social and psychological support for the patients. In extreme cases, we also go for medical support. To start off, we show presentations on various addictions and its ill effects," he said. After a number of meetings with psychologists, the addicts will be taken on a course of meditation, yoga and personalized therapies matching their interests. They will then undergo detoxification through medication, food and water. In the last stage, the psychological profiling of the addict will reveal the ways to divert the attention of the victim. The patient is asked to come twice a month for regular check-up and to know the progress of the rehabilitation. The initiative was taken after the hooch tragedy that claimed 156 lives. Ajay Kumar Chaudhary, deputy commissioner of police, zone V, told TOI that the programme focused on overall implementation of prohibition in liquor-prone areas. "Raiding liquor dens and nabbing bootleggers is not the ultimate solution. We also have to target the end consumer who goes to any extent to get his dope. Thus, we chalked out a plan to identify the affected group and de-addict them," said Chaudhary.