Guwahati, Oct 9: Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting with Chief Ministers, Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of Police of all North Eastern States on ‘Drug Trafficking and National Security’ in Guwahati, Assam on Saturday.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has strongly resolved to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Drug-free India’. Approximately 40,000 kg of narcotics were destroyed in the northeastern region under a special campaign against narcotics. A target to destroy 75,000 kg narcotics was set but under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, over 1.5 lakh kilogram narcotics has been destroyed so far, which is more than double of the target set.
In the meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the spread of drug smuggling is very fatal for any society. The damage caused by any terrorist incident is limited, but the spread of drugs in the society destroys generations. Just like a termite it makes the youth power of our society and the country hollow. He said that in the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav the Ministry of Home Affairs has strongly resolved to fulfil the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Drug-free India’.
The Union Home Minister said that the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted the policy of zero tolerance to thwart every attempt by the ‘Dirty Money’ of drug trafficking and ‘organized mafia’ to damage the country’s economy and national security.
On the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Home Affairs has adopted a three-pronged formula of strengthening the institutional structure, empowerment and coordination of all narcotics agencies and a comprehensive awareness campaign to crack down on narcotics.
Shah said that every state should have one Forensic Science Laboratory and the Government of India is ready to give financial assistance of 50% in this endeavour. Regional Office of NCB has been established at Guwahati, and new Regional Offices are being set up at Agartala in Tripura and Pasighat/Lower Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, a Zonal Office has also been started at New Jalpaiguri for better coverage of the areas adjoining Sikkim.
Stressing that the issue of drug smuggling is not an issue of Centre or state but a national issue and efforts to deal with it should also be national and unified, he urged upon the Chief Ministers of all Northeastern states to chair NCORD meetings and efforts should be made to percolate these to the district level.
Union Home Minister also favoured use of drones, artificial intelligence and satellite mapping for identification and control of areas used for cultivating opium. He said cases of drugs should be investigated thoroughly from its source to destination to crackdown on its entire network.
A total of 1257 cases were registered between 2006-2013 which increased by 152 percent to 3172 between 2014-2022; the total number of arrests during the same period increased by 260 percent to 4888 from 1362.
During 2006-2013, 1.52 lakh kg of drugs were seized, which doubled to 3.30 lakh kg between 2014-2022, drugs worth Rs 768 crore were seized during 2006-2013, which increased by 25 times to Rs 20,000 crore between 2014-2022 in the region.
