Shillong, Oct 8: Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting with Chief Ministers, Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of Police of all North Eastern States on ‘Drug Trafficking and National Security’ in Guwahati, on Saturday.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has strongly resolved to fulfill the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Drug-free India’
Approximately 40 thousand kilogram narcotics were destroyed in the northeastern region under a special campaign against narcotics.
Under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, a target to destroy 75 thousand kilogram narcotics was set but under the leadership of Prime Minister over 1.5 lakh kilogram narcotics has been destroyed so far, which is more than double of the target set.
The Government of India, under the leadership of the Prime Minister has adopted a policy of zero tolerance to thwart every attempt by ‘Dirty Money’ and ‘Organized Mafia’ to damage the country’s economy and national security.
The Union Home Minister said that every state should have one Forensic Science Laboratory and the Government of India is ready to give financial assistance of 50 percent in this endevour.
Regional Office of NCB has been established at Guwahati, New Regional Offices are being set up at Agartala in Tripura and Pasighat/Lower Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, a Zonal Office has also been started at New Jalpaiguri for better coverage of the areas adjoining Sikkim.
The Union Home Minister emphasised that Chief Ministers of all Northeastern states should chair NCORD meetings and efforts should be made to percolate these to the district level.
Shah also favoured use of drones, artificial intelligence and satellite mapping for identification and control of areas cultivating opium.
A total of 1257 cases were registered between 2006-2013 which increased by 152 percent to 3172 between 2014-2022, the total number of arrests during the same period increased by 260 percent to 4888 from 1362.
During 2006-2013, 1.52 lakh kg of drugs were seized which doubled to 3.30 lakh kg between 2014-2022, drugs worth Rs 768 crore were seized during 2006-2013, which increased by 25 times to Rs 20,000 crore between 2014-2022.
