Chandigarh, April 29, 2025 (Yes Punjab News)
To realise the commitment of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government to make the state a ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab’, Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav on Tuesday issued stern ultimatum to the district police chiefs to bring the drugs availability on the street to zero by May 31st, or accountibility of all the officers down to Station House Officer (SHO) level will be fixed.
The DGP accompanied by Special DGP Internal Security RN Dhoke, ADGP Anti Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) Nilabh Kishore and ADGP Law and Order Naresh Arora was chairing a high-level meeting of all the Range Inspector Generals of Police/Deputy Inspector Generals (IGPs/DIGs) and Commissioners of Police/Senior Superintendents of Police (CPs/SSPs) to make the ongoing action plan to wipe out drugs from the state foolproof in toto.
“We have taken several important decisions during the meeting including fixing the accountability of the officers. Every officer including CPs/SSPs, DSPs and SHOs will be held responsible and accountable in their own respective areas for failing to wipe out drugs from streets,” he said.
Post May 31, performance of all the officers will be assessed with the help of professional parameters, intelligence and feedback from public, he said, while adding, “After the survey, officers who did good work will be rewarded, while, punishments will be given to the officers found deficient.”
The DGP, however, clarified that the focus of the police is not a figure based targets, but to completely break the supply chains to make drugs unavailable across the state. CPs/SSPs have already been directed to trace forward and backward linkages of the cases being registered under the NDPS act and take the cases to logical conclusion by exposing complete networks, he added.
Pertinently, the 3-hours long meeting took place in two parts— with the review of district wise performance including number of FIRs registered, achievements and gaps were discussed with the respective Range IGPs/DIGs and CPs/SSPs in first part, while, in second part, field officers were asked to present their plan to eradicate drugs from their respective districts by May 31.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that, during the meeting, officers have also discussed various mechanisms and techniques to go after big fish and how to track them by leveraging use of technology as a force multiplier.
“With criminals have been using cut-out techniques and virtual numbers to evade arrest, we have devised a foolproof strategy to catch such criminals using technical and human intelligence,” he added.
He said that Punjab Police has been giving special focus on the 755 identified drug hotspots with repeated targeted and effective CASO operations to ensure denial of excess to drugs in these vulnerable areas.
The DGP said that all the departments especially Health and Education of the Punjab Government have joined hands to wipe-out the scourge of drugs from the state. Punjab Government has been focusing on increasing the de-addiction capacity in the state to bring all the victims in mainstream, he added.
Stressing on the need for maximum citizen participation, DGP Gaurav Yadav urged people of the state to make maximum use of Safe Punjab Anti-Drug Helpline ‘9779100200’ to report drug traffickers anonymously, citing that every tip received on the Helpline is being monitored on daily basis and the Chief Minister has been personally reviewing the progress.
Meanwhile, with the ongoing ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’ has completed 60 days, police teams have arrested 7889 drug smugglers after registering 4930 FIRs under the NDPS act since March 1, 2025, and recovered 325 kgs heroin, 100 quintals poppy husk, 157 kg opium, 95 kg ganja, 21.89 lakh tablets/capsules/pills and Rs 8.09 crores drug money from their possession.
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