Punjab CM reviews strategy to check drugs menace, promotion of gun culture

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann chaired a meeting of the officials two days after Punjab governor Banwari Lal Purohit during his tour of border districts made a stern statement that people have told him during interactions that the drugs were easily available in Punjab in grocery stores

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday asked the deputy commissioners, commissioners of police and senior superintendents of police, to further accelerate the three-pronged strategy of ‘Enforcement, De-addiction and Prevention’ for making Punjab a drug-free state.

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann told officials that appropriate action should be taken against colluding police officials/government officials to break any nexus with drug traffickers (ANI)

CM chaired a meeting of the officials two days after Punjab governor Banwari Lal Purohit during his tour of border districts made a stern statement that people have told him during interactions that the drugs were easily available in Punjab in grocery stores.

The chief minister told officials that appropriate action should be taken against colluding police officials/government officials to break any nexus with drug traffickers, and the property of drug traffickers should be confiscated under the provisions of the NDPS act, 1985.

Mann also asked the officers to ensure that provisions of preventive detention under the PITNDPS act 1988 are implemented along with tracing the forward and backward linkages in the supply chain through proper investigation of each recovery of illicit drugs.

Mann said that the medical infrastructure in form of 528 Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) clinics (including 17 in central jails), 36 Government De-addiction centres, 19 Government Rehabilitation centres, 185 Private De-addiction centres and 75 private Rehabilitation centres must be judiciously utilised for wiping out this menace.

The chief minister also asked the officers to intensify action against the promotion of gun culture in the state. He said that 167 FIRs have so far been registered for the glorification of weapons in the state, and 1.77 lakh weapons have been verified out of the total 4.38 lakh in the state.

The chief minister also said that the officers will be made accountable for any sort of illegal mining being carried out in areas under their jurisdiction.