Chandigarh
India's home minister Amit Shah applauded as Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB) burnt over 30,000 kg of drugs in the national capital Delhi, Guwahati, Chennai and Kolkata on Saturday.
The move followed a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ in which 75,000 kg of drugs was pledged to be destroyed.
Police in Assam destroyed drugs worth millions, including heroin, cannabis and raw methamphetamine, on Saturday. Meth tablets and more than 3,70,000 bottles of cough syrup were also disposed.
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NCB said at least 51,217 kg of narcotics were eliminated in eleven states across India with the total quantity surpassing 81,000 kgs. On Saturday, authorities in Delhi and Chennai destroyed large quantities of drugs.
“When Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, the central government had adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs,” India’s home minister said. Shah asserted that the government has zero tolerance toward drug use while emphasising that the “dirty money which is generated from the drug trade is used in activities against the country”.
Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla including NCB chief SN Pradhan were present during the conference in Chandigarh.
“Today Punjab CM is here. Everyone is saying this drug problem is more in Punjab and I feel that drug problem is more in Punjab. It is a border state and if the problem is more, then we will have to make more efforts. If the state government allots land, the Centre will set up a forensic lab in Amritsar and a small centre of NCB for training purposes,” the home minister assured the state government.
The home minister informed in the past seven years there has been a 260 per cent increase in arrests with over $2.5 billion worth of drugs seized between 2014 to 2021.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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