‘Govt aims to ensure no youth is under influence of narcotics’
CHANDIGARH: To curb the ever increasing drug menace, Union Home Minister, Amit Shah on Monday chaired the regional conference on ‘Drugs Smuggling and National Security’ in Delhi.
Union Home minister Amit Shah on Monday said the fight against drugs is to ensure that no youth is under the influence of narcotics and the country is safe and free from illegal substances.
Shah said this at a conference on “Drugs Smuggling and National Security” during which he watched through video conferencing destruction of more than 1.40 lakh kg drugs worth Rs 2,381 crore in various parts of the country. Both the chief ministers, Haryana Chief Minister along with Chief Minister of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann and others along with Director General of Police (DGPs) of various states also attended the meeting through video conferencing. While reviewing the efforts being made by the states to tackle the drug menace, Shah directed the Chief Ministers and DGPs to tighten the noose around those involved in the illegal smuggling of drugs.
Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar who participated in the meeting through video conference from Sonipat district apprised about the multi-pronged strategy adopted by Haryana to break the network of drugs. Mann said that the state government has adopted a three-pronged strategy of Enforcement-Deaddiction-Prevention (EDP) against the drug menace.
Mann also batted for more stringent provisions in existing laws to check this scourge.
Khattar further informed about ending the drug trade in Haryana’s Nuh district. He shared that 500 policemen were deployed in Nuh district to break the drug network. Besides this, a special campaign against drugs is being run in the border villages, he added.
Khattar further said that to help drug addicts in the state, a toll-free anti-drug helpline number 9050891508 has also been started to collect information from the public about drug peddling activities in their area. So far 5542 calls have been received on this number, which is proving useful for helping addicts and also playing a key tool in breaking the drug supply chain.
Khattar said that during the last year, 3,824 FIRs were registered in the state and 6,000 persons were arrested. These include 10 Nigerian suppliers. Apart from this, assets worth Rs 46 crore of 71 persons have been attached.
Giving suggestions for far more effective control over the drug menace, the Chief Minister Punjab, Bhagwant Mann advocated that anti drone technology/Jammers be installed on the entire international border of Punjab with Pakistan so that smuggling of drugs and weapons be stopped. Likewise, he said that a state-of-the-art Regional Drone Forensic Lab may be set up in Punjab preferably at Amritsar so that the origin, destination and route maps of the drones may be traced out. Bhagwant Mann also sought access to Custom Database so that suspected containers coming from other countries may be scrutinized from drug smuggling point of view.
Mann also batted for reduction of commercial quantity of heroin from existing 250 grams to 25 grams to check peddling at intermediate level.
Mann said that OOAT Clinics focus on outpatient treatment in order to enable the patients to continue with his/her normal life during the de-addiction process adding that over 09 lakh patients of drug abuse are availing treatment in OOAT clinics and de-addiction centres. He said that the state government is laying major thrust on tracing the forward and backward linkages in the supply chain of drugs through proper investigation of each recovery of illicit drugs adding that an area–specific strategy has been tailored to each police station area/locality/village for eliminating the curse of drugs. Bhagwant Mann said that village Panchayats have been roped in to make drug free villages across the state.
