Northern states join hands to counter drug menace

In a joint statement, Chief Ministers of Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, HP and Uttarakhand joined by top officials from Delhi, J&K and Chandigarh, agreed on a series of measures.
For representational purposes
For representational purposes

CHANDIGARH:  Terming drugs a national problem, the Second Joint Conference of Chief Ministers of northern states on Thursday decided to set up a joint working group involving officials of the Health and Social Justice Departments of all states to share experiences and best practices in their respective campaigns.The states expressed concern over the inflow of drugs from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and other countries and called for closer collaboration to make the region ‘drug free’.

In a joint statement, Chief Ministers of Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand joined by top officials from Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh, agreed on a series of measures to tackle it. These include joint operations at inter-state borders, information sharing and implementation of the best practices of the participating states.

There was consensus on information sharing mechanism on drugs and drug dealers for effective crackdown and on launching major awareness programs. It proposed to jointly press the Centre to come out with a national drug policy to counter the menace .

Participants agreed to consider opening of a regional training centre for investigators at Chandigarh and approach the Centre to establish a regional centre of National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, New Delhi.Punjab CM Amarinder said money from the drug trade was being used by Pakistan to carry on its nefarious and divisive activities in India while Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar stressed on establishing an inter-state cell phone base to track offenders.

Rajasthan worst hit
CM Gehlot said Rajasthan was at the receiving end due to its shared border with Pakistan and called for steps to destroy the economy being run by smugglers

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