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Drug menace spreading across Haryana: Surjewala
Haryana Police seized 24,000 kilogram drugs and narcotic substances in 2022 and 23,555 kilogram between January 1 to November 30 this year
Former Haryana minister, Randeep Singh Surjewala, on Friday said that tentacles of drug mafia have spread across the state from Sirsa, Fatehabad, Ambala to the entire national capital region including Faridabad and Gurgaon.
Quoting statistics, the Congress leader, in a statement, said that Haryana Police have registered 3,757 cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in 2023 with an average of 10 drug related first information reports (FIRs) registered every day.
“If one compares this to the registration of 1,661 drug-related FIRs in 2015; 2,247 FIRs in 2017; 2,587 FIRs in 2018 and 3,636 FIRs in 2022, a constant increase is seen indicating a spread of drug abuse in Haryana,’’ Surjewala said.
Substantiating his claims of increase in spread of drugs in the state, the former minister said that the Haryana Police had seized 24,000 kilogram drugs and narcotic substances in 2022. Between January 1 to November 30, the police had recovered 23,555 kilogram drugs and narcotic substances, he said.
“What is most worrying is that the state police have registered 313 cases of commercial quantity of drugs in the period between January 1 to November 30. This shows high incidence of distribution, sale, peddling and transportation of drugs,’’ Surjewala added.
The Congress general secretary said that two recent studies, conducted by Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development and Indian Council for Social Science Research, on the spread of drug menace concluded that unemployment and consequent frustration among the youth is the primary reason for the spread of drug menace. “This has to be viewed in context of the 36.2% unemployment rate prevailing among Haryana’s youth and the low labour participation rate, at 38.5%, in the state,’’ Surjewala said.
The former minister said that the Punjab and Haryana high court had conducted over 100 hearings via-a-vis the drug menace in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, and issued specific directions like giving ₹5 lakh compensation to the family of drug addicts who commit suicide; registration of money laundering cases against kingpins at the time of registration of NDPS FIRs, those dealing in commercial quantities of drugs; to open drug rehabilitation centres in each district; appointment of nodal officers in every educational institution for awareness against drug abuse; deputing plain clothed cops around educational institutions; constitution of special task force against drugs; monitoring drug menace in prisons and testing every prisoner for drugs. “However, the BJP-JJP government has thrown most of these recommendations into the dustbin of history,’’ Surjewala alleged.
