Taking a serious view of the concerns expressed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court over the manner in which final reports are being filed by the prosecution in drug related offences, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday directed the Advocate General Atul Nanda to pursue the matter in right earnestness.
Acting on the Chief Minister’s directives, AG Atul Nanda has written a DO letter to the Department of Prosecution and litigation’s director Vijay Singla asking him to call for a report from the various districts and ascertain the factual position on ground in this regards.
Describing it as an issue of “grave concern” the AG has also sought the comments and suggestions of the Director on the issue “so that the matter may be taken forward at the earliest, preferably within two weeks.”
The letter is marked to the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh and Additional Chief Secretary (Home) NS Kalsi, apart from DGP Suresh Arora and ADGP, STF (Drugs), Harpreet Singh Sidhu.
The letter refers to Wednesday’s incident when, while the Chief Minister was attending his hearing on a 2002 election petition before the High Court, Justice Daya Chaudhary had called upon the AG as well as the Chief Minister “to look into the manner in which final reports are being filed by the Prosecution in drug related offences, more particularly without attaching the laboratory reports supporting the charges made against the accused.”
The Court was of the view that such reports are often not attached to or form part of the final report which is filed before it.
Soon after the issue was brought to his notice by the Court, the Chief Minister directed the AG to personally look into the matter and ensure that the system is streamlined to ensure that there are no such loopholes in the prosecution’s case before the Court, particularly in drug-related matters.
CAPT lOOKS AT ENROllING NCC CADETS AS DAPOS TO FIGHT DRUG MENACE
In another initiative to control the drug menace in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has mooted enrolment of NCC cadets as Drug Abuse Prevention Officers’ Prevention (DAPOs) in the vulnerable border and rural areas.
Capt Amarinder on Thursday asked the Additional Director General, National Cadet Corps (NCC) Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, RS Mann to initiate the process of involving the cadets in DAPO campaign, while directing the Additional Chief Secretary (Higher Education) SK Sandhu to work out a strategy for their enrolment as DAPOs.
The directives were issued during a high-level meeting with senior NCC officers, at which the Chief Minister underlined the scope for harnessing the massive potential of the disciplined NCC cadets in the government’s fight against drug abuse.
The Chief Minister also asked the ADG NCC to bring at least 547 more government schools, especially in the border and remote rural areas, within its ambit so that students could be trained for gainful employment, besides being nurtured into ideal citizens of the society.
Extending his government’s full support to the NCC, the Chief Minister asked the Principal Secretary Finance to allot additional funds to the tune of Rs 5 crore over and above the already sanctioned budget of Rs 27 crore for the current fiscal.
10l STUDENTS OF 1500 UNAIDED PVT COllEGES TO lAUNCH ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN
Around 10 lakh students from 1500 unaided private colleges of Punjab will take a pledge soon to be drug-free, and will also launch an anti-drug campaign under the leadership of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
A delegation of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of unaided private colleges from across the state announced this after meeting the Chief Minister on Thursday.
The delegation, led by Congress leader and JAC chairman Ashwani Sekhri, had come to meet the Chief Minister to thank him for the cabinet decision to release the pending dues on account of the SC post-matric scholarship.
The Chief Minister released a poster, designed by them, to highlight the problem of drugs in the state. The poster underlined the youths’ dream of a drug-free Punjab (‘Sadda Khawab, Nasha Mukt Punjab).
Welcoming their initiative, the Chief Minister urged them to participate pro-actively in the government’s fight against drugs. Youth could play a pivotal role in realizing the dream of a drug-free Punjab, he said.
Sekhri said that the JAC would aggressively work towards a drug-free Punjab and the movement would be completely apolitical.
RANDHAWA TEARS INTO 'AKAlIS', SAYS THINGS WOUlDN'T HAVE REACHED SUCH A SORRY PASS HAD AKAlIS ACTED RESPONSIBlY
Tearing into SAD ranks, Punjab Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Thursday thundered that had the Akalis acted responsibly on the drugs issue during their tenure, the state wouldn't have seen such harrowing days today.
Randhawa, responding to a demand by the ex-Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal about conducting dope test of MlAs and the ministers, reminded the Akalis that during their tenure in December 2013, “I had demanded in the Vidhan Sabha that all MlAs must undergo dope test. But at that time, Badal kept mum. So now, he has no moral right to ask for dope test of MlAs”.
Randhawa said that at that time, he had challenged Badal on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha to take an oath on the drugs issue at Sri Darbar Sahib. Castigating Akalis further, Randhawa said that SAD is totally responsible for the narco-terrorism in Punjab because it gave patronage to drug lords in its tenure which caused this menace to spread its tentacles.
Raising the demand to conduct dope test on SAD president Sukhbir Badal and narco test of Bikram Singh Majithia, Randhawa outlined that Capt Amarinder Singh led government is committed to breaking the backbone of the drug menace and taking numerous steps to ensure its eradication.