Ruckus in Haryana Assembly as BJP & Congress MLAs spar on drug issue

Chandigarh: Ruckus prevailed in Haryana Assembly on Wednesday as the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress MLAs clashed during a discussion over drug abuse in the state.

Opposition MLAs protested strongly when Home Minister Anil Vij referred to the arrest of a man who claimed that he was related to a Congress MLA.

Congress members retaliated by naming a BJP MLA they claimed was seen with a drug trafficker.

Listing out the steps taken by the state government to curb the menace, Vij said Haryana State Narcotics Control Bureau headed by an Additional Director General of Police rank officer will be set up.

The state government will also be getting 64 sniffer dogs to detect if any drug makes it way into Haryana from other places through rail or road routes, he said.

The minister also informed the House that anti-narcotics cells at state, range and district levels have been established, while an Interstate Drug Secretariat has been set up at State Crime Branch headquarters in Panchkula in order to coordinate and share intelligence with the neighbouring states over the issue.

A toll free number has been circulated all over the state so that the general public could report such crimes freely and timely, Vij added.

Even as the Haryana government underlined the measures taken to tackle drug abuse, opposition legislators claimed that drug use has spread to every district of the state and this cannot be possible without the cooperation and connivance of "police and administration".

Congress MLA Surender Panwar alleged drugs are being openly sold within close radius of varsities in Sonipat district.

Indian National Lok Dal's lone MLA Abhay Singh Chautala said children as young as 15 years of age were falling into drug trap, adding in his home district Sirsa the problem was rampant.

He said in Sirsa alone the number of drug addicts reported to de-addiction centres has gone up from

1,405 in 2014 to nearly 30,000 currently.