Miffed at being put in a spot after Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed concern over the issue of drugs destroying the youth in the State, Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal has demanded effective steps against smuggling of narcotics not only from across the international border but also from some BJP-ruled States including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan which allowed cultivation and sale of poppy and opium, respectively.
Through separate statements, the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Singh, who is the Shiromani Akali Dal president, shifted the onus on the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister, to assist the Punjab Government by providing necessary human resource and infrastructure to stop the trafficking of heroin from across the international border with Pakistan, opium and poppy husk from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh as well as charas from Himachal Pradesh.
After the meeting of the State council of ministers, while Mr. Sukhbir Singh announced his plans about writing to the PM and the Union Home minister to ensure that BSF plugged all channels along the 553 km long border, a communication from the Chief Minister’s office announced that Mr Badal had already written and posted the letters. Mr. Sukhbir Singh drew the PM's attention that Punjab, which had zero production of any narcotics, was a victim of the scourge as the State fell in the transit route.
Seeking Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s direct intervention, the Chief Minister, through his letter said that the smugglers had resorted to various innovations to push drugs through the Samjhauta Express train as well as the international bus service. Mr. Badal provided details about the exponential increase in the recovery of the contraband ever since the Akali Dal-BJP alliance government assumed power in the State.
Seizures of heroin had gone up five-fold from 101 kg in 2011 to 520 kg in November this year. As compared to 758 quintals in 2011, 2366 quintals of poppy husk was seized in 2013, while at least 30,000 persons had been arrested as the State witnessed an increase in registration of cases under the NDPS Act.
Mr. Badal also pointed out that Punjab police conducted raids and effected seizures from outside the State as well.
Investigations related to activity of pharmaceutical units in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra led to the arrest of some persons involved diverting precursor chemicals for manufacture of synthetic
