Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today gave a call to check narco terrorism by introducing modern surveillance on the international border with Pakistan even as he announced that Punjab had the highest drug conviction rate in the country and was implementing an effective de-addiction drive.In a statement here, the Deputy chief minister, who also holds the Home portfolio, said the porous and riverine tracts alongside the border with Pakistan and lack of sufficient manpower to man the international border effectively were hurting Punjab and the nation and effective steps should be taken immediately to seal the border and stop entry of drugs into the State.Badal said the party’s stand for complete sealing of the international border had been vindicated by the honourable courts recently and the Border Security Force should be provided modern equipment to foil Pakistan’s plan to spread narco-terrorism in the country.He also made it clear that a vicious campaign had also been launched by the Congress to malign the fair name of Punjab and brand its entire youth as drug addicts.
“This is being done even though it was the laxity during the ten years old Congress led UPA rule that narco-terrorism had reared its ugly head in the country”. He said Punjab had launched a crusade against drugs and there should be no room for dirty politics on this issue as the mudslinging would only strengthen the hands of anti-Punjab and anti-national forces out to weaken Punjab.Giving details the Deputy CM said in the last year the state narcotics control bureau had confiscated 63 consignments in the border areas besides some heavy seizures of drugs which included seizure of 12 kg heroin in district Tarn Taran, 18 kg heroin in Amritsar, 13 kg heroin in Ferozepur, 25 kg heroin in Fazilka and 74 kg heroin in Ferozepur.He further said in 2014, a total of 14,482 cases were registered under NDPS Act and 17,001 persons arrested whereas in 2015, total 10,162 cases were registered under NDPS Act and the number of persons put behind bars was 11,874.
The Deputy CM said the Punjab Police was pulling out all stops to eradicate the menace of drugs and was keeping a constant vigil along the international borders to prevent the inflow of drugs into the state. As part of this, the police was taking strict action against unscrupulous elements indulging in drug trade and had put 75,399 persons behind bars from 2007-2014. This even included the arrest of five BSF officials.In a comparison of action taken by Punjab vis a vis other States, Mr Badal said in 2012, a total of 10,220 FIRs were registered under NDPS Act in Punjab whereas this number was only 1903 in Maharashtra and a mere 55 in Goa which is very infamous for its rave parties. In 2013, Punjab Police registered 14,654 FIRs under NDPS Act whereas this number was 2714 in Maharashtra and 50 with respect of Goa. In terms of conviction rate under NDPS Act also, Punjab scored a point over other states with 73 per cent convictions in 2012 whereas this figure was only 32 per cent in respect of Maharashtra and 20 per cent in Goa. In 2013, the conviction percentage under NDPS Act was 80 per cent for Punjab and 54 per cent with respect to Goa and 18 per cent in Gujarat.
Mr Badal informed that the commitment of Punjab towards ridding the state of the menace of drugs was evident from the fact that 29 per cent of national heroin seizures and 41 per cent of national opium seizures were affected in the State in 2013.Disclosing more Mr Badal said the inflow of drugs including poppy husk, opium, ganja, smack and heroin into Punjab was either through the international border or from neighbouring states that produced the drugs legally.
No drug is produced in Punjab. In fact, they are produced in Pakistan and Afghanistan and are transited through Punjab and the responsibility of stopping their smuggling lies with central agencies. This underlines the importance of having a second line of defence including deployment of a commando unit to stop seepage of drugs into the country.Elaborating more he said that as part of de-addiction and rehabilitation efforts, 5 model drug de-addiction centers had been established. He said besides this 21 government de-addiction centers had also been made functional.He said 1.08 lakh patients had visited de-addiction OPDs in 27 civil hospitals and rehabilitation centres setup in the state during the last year and were given prescriptions to cure their intake habits. Besides this 10,973 addicts were admitted to the centres and were prescribed medicines free of cost, he added.