MANN ORDERS CRACKDOWN AGAINST DRUG SELLERS

CHANDIGARH : Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday directed the Punjab Police to launch a crackdown against those involved in selling drugs and asked it to take action against politicians interfering with the anti-drug campaign.

Chairing a high-level meeting of the anti-drug special task force (STF) through video-conference, Mann asked the officers to work without political pressure with a focus on making Punjab a drug-free state.

“To my mind, some police officers might have been working earlier under certain compulsions but all officers are not alike. However, few drug peddlers might be getting political patronage in the past but now this shall not happen and all of you should work fearlessly in a direction to wipe out the slur of drugs from the state,” he said.

Emphasising the need to break the supply chain of drugs, Mann asked police officers to arrest those who are actually selling drugs not the drug addicts as these persons have already become victims of the mafia.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal asserted that the drug peddlers will no more find any protection in Punjab and strict action will be taken against them to free the youth from the shackles of addiction.

“It is most important to bring Punjab’s youth out of drug addition. Now, there is an honest government in Punjab. There will be no protection to drug peddlers. Strict action will be taken against them,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

“AAP will solve this problem by working with the people of Punjab wholeheartedly,” the Delhi chief minister added.