Suvendu drives road roller over one lakh seized drug bottles

In what is being viewed as symbolic of the BJP Government’s “firm commitment” to end transborder drug smuggling, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday drove a road roller over about one lakh seized cough syrup bottles at Balurghat in South Dinajpur district.

Adhikari, who was accompanied by Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar and Bengal Health Minister Shardwat Mukherjee, said that the programme was meant to send across a message to the youth that the Government was firmly determined to end the drug menace in the State.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative towards making India drug-free, Adhikari said: “This is my first message to those involved in drug smuggling that the government is determined to bring the youth out of drug addiction.”

This was Adhikari’s first visit to Balurghat after becoming the Chief Minister of the State. He said that a large quantity of drug bottles had been seized in the last four months in joint operations conducted by State police and the BSF, adding, ‘the bottles we are destroying today are those seized bottles, sending across a straight message that we want to make Bengal drug-free. 

Balurghat is a district bordering Bangladesh.

Saying that during the previous governments there was no coordination between the BSF and the State Police “as the BSF was treated as an enemy,” the Chief Minister said, with the change of power that perception had also changed and there has been increased coordination between the two forces, leading to the seizure of cough syrups.

Warning the people who were involved in drug smuggling, he said, “The State Government is determined to end the drug menace from Bengal, and it will tolerate no illegal activities along the border... The miscreants are warned that they will not be spared and will have to suffer legally if found involved in smuggling activities.