Calling for a social movement to eradicate the drug menace, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday said that the police could only build pressure but it was the people who could really and truly help wipe out the problem.
Making it clear that he did not subscribe to violence of any kind, the Chief Minister said that a people’s movement was the only solution to the problem.
Capt Amarinder, interacting with the media on the sidelines of a book release function at Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), said: “Already, one could see villagers come out to nab drug peddlers…Such help from the people would go a long way in eliminating drugs.”
He recalled the people’s movement that had built up during the days of terrorism, when, tired of the mindless violence, people had started coming out to help the police with information on terrorists.
The problem can only be solved jointly, he said, pointing out that the signs of change were clearly visible, with numbers now dwindling as more and more people were trying to get out of the deadly clutches of drugs.
“The government has broken the backbone of the drug trade in four weeks, as I had promised…Anybody in the previous regime found guilty of complicity would not be spared if evidence against them is found by the investigating agencies,” he said.
Capt Amarinder said that a lot had been heard about the doings of certain leaders in the erstwhile SAD-BJP regime and while he did not want to indulge in political vendetta, he would not let anyone against whom there is proof go scot-free.
On the black sheep in the police, the Chief Minister said that the government was taking strong action against them. “Easy money corrupts police personnel also,” he said, when asked about the reason for the involvement of policemen in drug abuse and trade.
Recalling that he had, in the run-up to the 2017 assembly elections, promised to break the backbone of drug trade, the Chief Minister said that the government had clearly succeeded in doing that. “There is shortage of drugs, particularly heroin, prices have gone up,” he pointed out.
On the alleged use of concoctions and mixtures as a substitute for drugs by addicts, the Chief Minister said that it was an extremely dangerous trend, which was responsible for causing instant deaths, as had been happening in recent weeks. The government was cracking down on the use of such mixtures, he added.