CM Sarma justifies severe crackdown on drug dealers
Assam starts drive to burn in public drugs worth `163cr
In what is called an attempt to save Assam from becoming ‘Udta Punjab,’ Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma here, on Saturday, started a mega seized drug disposal drive by destroying seized drugs worth `170 crore ceremonially at Golaghat, Diphu, and Hojai and warned that Assam is no longer a safe place for drug peddlers.
Asserting that the Assam police has been given freedom to go all out against this menace, Mr Sarma said that though Assam was earlier a transit route for drugs originating from other parts of the Northeast and areas bordering a neighbouring country to other parts of India, the situation has changed in recent years with the use of the contraband increasing in the state.
He regretted that the state was on its way to becoming like Punjab, where thousands had fallen victim to the trade of illicit drugs.
Referring to how a film, ‘Udta Punjab,’ narrated the drug menace which was threatening to destroy a generation in Punjab, Mr Sarma said that in the past two months 1,021 cases have been registered and 1,897 persons arrested for involvement in trafficking of illegal drugs.
Though the police had been acting against drug trafficking in the past, the same intensified after the new government took office in May this year.
“This shows that the availability of drugs is increasing since the police is able to seize only around 10-20 per cent of the total illicit commodity in circulation. We have decided to adopt a policy of zero tolerance. We are also standing like a rock behind the Assam police led by DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and special DGP G.P. Singh,” the chief minister said.