Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has given a clarion call to check inflow of drugs by introducing state-of-the-art surveillance at the international border with Pakistan. He reiterated commitment of Punjab Government to continue its war against drugs and urged to enhance deployment of Border Security Force personals.In a statement, the Deputy Chief Minister, who also holds the home portfolio, said the porous and riverine tracts alongside the Pak border and deficient manpower were negatively impacting Punjab and the nation. "Hence effective steps should be taken at the earliest to seal the border at par with Kashmir and stop smuggling of drugs into the State" adding Mr. Badal said that BSF should be equipped with modern gadgets to foil neighbour’s plan to spread narco-terrorism in the country.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 Tarntaran, 18 kg heroin in Amritsar, 13 kg heroin in Ferozepur, 25 kg heroin in Fazilka and 74 kg heroin in Ferozepur district.
He further said in 2014, a total of 14,482 cases were registered under NDPS Act and 17,001 accused arrested whereas in 2015, total 10,162 cases were registered and the 11,874 persons put behind bars.The Deputy CM said the Punjab Police is not leaving any stone unturned to eradicate the menace of drugs and keeping a constant vigil along the international border 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.Disclosing more Mr. Badal said “No drug is produced in Punjab. In fact, synthetic drugs and narcotics are produced in Pakistan and Afghanistan and are transited through Punjab. "The responsibility of stopping their smuggling lies with central agencies. Punjab is contemplating a second line of defence including deployment of a commando unit to stop seepage of drugs into the country," he informed.
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 centers 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 centers and were prescribed medicines free of cost, he added.He also lambasted Congress for launching a nefarious campaign to malign 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.
Divulging more he said that Punjab Police taking strong action against the drug menace which has resulted in almost negligent availability of drugs in Punjab. He attributed it to the large scale crackdown on peddlers as well as chemist shops. He said the intensity of the seizures was such that the recovery had gone up from a mere 2 kg in 2002 to 350 kg of heroin in 2014. Deputy CM further said that similarly a whopping 4.5 crores habit forming pills and capsules were seized in the past two years. He informed that for the first time in a decade nearly 1800 kg of raw material – pseudophedrine, ephedrine and metrophormine- used for making party drug ICE were seized in the past two years.Mr Badal further said the government had also started 19 Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) centers to control the prevalence of intravenous drug abuse in collaboration with National Aids Control Society (NACO) Punjab. He added that the government had with the help of UNODC also started methadone maintenance therapy at Bathinda and Kapurthala for patients of intravenous drug abuse.