The Punjab government has decided to recommend the death penalty for drug peddling or smuggling, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said today. Singh said the recommendation was being forwarded to the Narendra Modi government.
“Since drug peddling is destroying entire generations, it deserves exemplary punishment. I stand by my commitment for a drug-free Punjab,” he wrote in a tweet.
Deaths caused by drug overdoses have caused a political slugfest in Punjab.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), an opposition party, said the government has forgotten its pre-election promises and wasn’t serious about combating the smuggling, peddling and consumption of drugs.
Last month, a government spokesperson said a Special Task Force had successfully blocked trans-border and interstate-border drugs supply — with 16,305 cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, and 18,800 people arrested since March 16, 2017.
The cabinet meeting, chaired by the chief minister, also resolved to send a formal recommendation soon to the Union government to this effect.
The chief minister had called the meeting to discuss the issue, particularly in the context of deaths of nearly 30 youths due to alleged drug overdose and adulterated drugs in the state recently.
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Opposition parties, including the AAP and the SAD, and NGOs have been hitting out at the 15-month old Congress government for allegedly failing to contain drug menace in the state.
The cabinet also decided to constitute a special working group under the chairmanship of additional chief secretary (home) N S Kalsi to review and monitor, on a day-to-day basis, the action being taken to check and control drug abuse. The working group will have ACS (health), DGP (law & order), DGP (intelligence) and ADGP (STF) as members, the spokesperson said after the meeting.
During discussions, the CM ordered DGP Suresh Arora to intensify the police crackdown on the drug menace.
Local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu expressed concern at the public perception that the government had not succeeded in eliminating the drug menace.
Pointing out that NDPS Act was a very sensitive and specialised legislation, advocate general Atul Nanda mooted the creation of a special cadre of at least 15 well-trained prosecutors to secure the conviction of drug offenders in an effective manner, as a corrective measure.