E-Paper
CMs of 5 states decide to set up working group for sharing info
There was a consensus among the states on the importance of strengthening the information-sharing mechanism on drug trafficking and suspected smugglers for a more effective crackdown against them.
Chief ministers of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh on Thursday decided to set up a joint working group, involving officials of their health and social justice departments, to share experiences and best practices in their respective campaigns against drugs.
The announcement came at the end of the “Second Regional Conference on Drug Menace” in Chandigarh. In a joint statement, the five states also expressed concern over the inflow of drugs from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and other countries and called for closer collaboration to fight the menace and make the region free of narcotics.
The CMs, joined by top officials from Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh, agreed on a series of measures to eradicate the drugs scourge from the region. These included joint operations at the inter-state borders, information sharing and implementation of the best practices of the participating states, according to the statement.
There was a consensus among the states on the importance of strengthening the information-sharing mechanism on drug trafficking and suspected smugglers for a more effective crackdown against them.
The conference also proposed to jointly urge the Union government to come out with a national drugs policy to effectively tackle the problem. It agreed to consider opening of a regional training centre for investigators to probe cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at Chandigarh. The states also agreed to take up with the Centre a proposal to establish a regional drug dependence treatment centre in the Chandigarh Tricity area on the lines of National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), AIIMS, Delhi.
Last month, Union home minister Amit Shah told the Punjab CM that the Centre was formulating a detailed strategy to tackle the menace of drugs in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
Thursday’s conference, which opened with Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh suggesting some tough measures to tackle the problem, was attended by officials of Intelligence Bureau (IB), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and other central agencies.
Singh also accused Pakistan,with which Punjab shares a 553-km border, of promoting narco-terrorism, saying that money from the drug trade was being used by the Pakistani spay agency, Inter-Services Intelligence , to carry out its nefarious and divisive activities in India.
Singh and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar, however, differed on laws like the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The Punjab CM called for closer examination of laws such as MCOCA before implementing them in other states as they had a lot of scope for misuse. He, however, agreed on the need to further strengthen the NDPS Act.
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur also said that his government was considering enacting stringent laws to tackle the drugs menace.
Supporting Amarinder Singh’s demand for a national drugs policy, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot called for effective steps to destroy the parallel economy being run by drug smugglers. Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat also addressed the meeting.
