Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday that Modi government has zero-tolerance policy towards drugs, the result of which was that drug seizures and cases against traffickers went up in recent years.
During a debate in the Lok Sabha, Shah said: “Our government has a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs. Those countries promoting terrorism in our country are using drug money… presence of this dirty money also hollows our economy,” he said.
The minister said the government has mapped possible routes and drug trafficking networks in 472 districts across the country. “No matter how big the culprit is, in the next two years… they will be behind bars,” he said.
As per the data shared by the minister, 62.6-lakh kilo of drugs were seized between 2014 and 2022 as compared to 22.45-lakh kilo between 2006 and 2013. The value of the drugs seized went up from Rs 33,000 crore to Rs 97,000 crore in the same period. Shah also said that the number of cases registered increased from 1.45 lakh between 2006 and 2013 to 4.14 lakh between 2014 and 2022. The number of arrests increased from 1.62 lakh to 5.23 lakh, he said.
Shah said the Home ministry has adopted a three-pronged strategy — strengthening of institutions; empowerment and coordination among agencies; and extensive awareness and rehabilitation campaigns.
When Congress and Trinamool Congress members raised the issue of drug haul in Gujarat, Shah said such instances were a reflection of the state machinery doing its job well. “If non-recovery of drugs is a mark of a drug-free state, Punjab will have to be seen as a drug-free state,” he said, adding that Gujarat is a border state and drug smugglers may use its ports to push drugs into India.
Shah said the Centre has empowered the Border Security Force, Seema Suraksha Bal and Assam Rifles to register cases under the NDPS Act, while lashing out at those politicising the issue, saying agencies cannot work effectively if they are powerless. “If the agencies deployed at the border are not empowered to deal with these cases, then how will they work? What will they do,” he said.
He said the government has roped in several NGOs for spreading awareness about drug abuse and to run rehabilitation programmes, while reiterating that the government cannot remain a silent spectator to unmonitored foreign funding of organisations trying to change the demography of the country.
