Amit Shah Heads Regional Conference on Drug Smuggling and National Security
17 July, 2023 | Anamika Singh Parihar
The total quantity of drugs destroyed annually has now reached nearly 10 Lakh Kilograms after the destruction of these drugs which constitutes the value of Rs 12,000 crores.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah headed the regional conference on ‘Drug Smuggling and Regional Security’ in Delhi on Monday. Over 1,44,000 kilograms of drugs were destroyed in many parts of the country by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in coordination with the Anti-Narcoticstics Task Force (ANTFs) of all states in the presence of the Home Minister in the event.
The total quantity of drugs destroyed annually has now reached nearly 10 Lakh Kilograms after the destruction of these drugs which constitutes the value of Rs 12,000 crores.
The drugs destroyed covered 6,590 kg by NCB’s Hyderabad unit, 822 kg by Indore, and 356 by Jammu.
Apart from this, many other law enforcement agencies in various states destroyed a total of 1,44,122 kg of drugs.
This includes 229 kg of drugs in Chandigarh, 25 kg in Goa, 1,486 kg in Assam, 4,277 in Gujrat, 2,458 kg in Haryana, 4,069 kg in Jammu Kashmir, and 1,03,884 kg in Madhya Pradesh, 159 kg in Maharashtra, 4,049 kg in Uttar Pradesh.
All the regional units of NCB and ANFTs of states have destroyed tremendous amounts of drugs in one year which is already 11 times the target.
The government has adopted the ‘Zero Tolerance Policy’ against narcotics to create a drug-free India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement.
MHA also added “To realize Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of Drugs-free India, this campaign of destruction of drugs will continue actively, with the same zeal,” according to the reports.
Punjab and Haryana both are worst hitting states in the consumption of drugs. Both states have seen a meteoric rise in deaths due to high levels of use of narcotic-related substances.
The situation in these states has been so grim throughout the years. Both Central and State governments are continuously working to tackle this very issue. This issue has also become the subject of a political hot potato in various states.