Haryana witnessed 40 cases per day last year

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The state government is serious regarding the illicit sale as well as the use of intoxicating substances such as liquor, opium, poppy husk, ganja, charas, heroin and smack. OFFICIAL SPOKESPERSON

CHANDIGARH: At least 40 criminal cases per day were registered against bootleggers in Haryana last year and almost all the accused involved in the illicit liquor trade were arrested, a government spokesperson said on Sunday.

Also, the police lodged a total of 2,247 criminal cases against those involved in the supply of narcotics and seized 86kg opium, 125kg charas, 9,550 kg poppy husk, 10kg smack, 4,368 kg ganja and 4kg heroin.

Around nine lakh bottles of the smuggled illicit liquor, around eight lakh bottles of English wine and 73,910 bottles of beer, 38,702 bottles of illicit liquor and 22 working stills were seized from January to December last year.

“The state government is serious regarding the illicit sale as well as the illicit use of intoxicating substances such as liquor, opium, poppy husk, ganja, charas, heroin and smack,” the spokesperson said.

He pointed out that during 2017, a total of 14,668 criminal cases were registered against people involved in the illicit liquor trade.

The spokesperson said special campaigns are being launched on a regular basis to detect smuggling of liquor and narcotics and that one such campaign was recently launched from December 14, 2017 to January 15, 2018 with a view to curbing narcotic and liquor smuggling.

During the recently concluded budget session of Haryana assembly, MLAs cutting across party lines had expressed “concern” over the easy availability of drugs like heroin in the hinterland and the growing drug addiction among the youth.

Congress MLA Karan Singh Dalal and leader of opposition Abhay Singh Chautala had moved call attention notices about drug peddlers roaming freely in rural areas and trapping the youth, including the girls. Congress and the INLD members alleged that police were hand in glove with drug suppliers.

In his detailed reply about the steps government had taken to curb illicit liquor trade, parliamentary affairs minister Ram Bilas Sharma special task force was set up to detect and investigate drug-related cases.

The minister had also informed the Vidhan Sabha that the government was considering to make drunken driving, resulting into the death of the victim, a non-bailable offence.