Buildings being used for drug trade razed

Rajiv Mahajan

NURPUR JULY 1

The drug peddlers hailing from the neighbouring Punjab were dealt a blow today when the local administration and police in a joint operation demolished as many as 15 buildings at Bhadroya in Nurpur which had been raised illegally on the Shamlat Deh land here. These peddlers had been reportedly running drug peddling trade from these buildings for the past many years. The buildings comprised pucca houses and shops.

Following the directions of SP Kangra, the police had mounted pressure on them and registered as many as 30 cases under the NDPS Act. The police had recovered narcotic and psychotropic drugs in Bhadroya gram panchayat during the past 10 months. However, all this failed to deter drug trafficking.

As per official information, the land eviction team led by SDM and DSP Nurpur and comprising 30 police personnel, local panchayat representatives and PWD workers demolished these structures with two JCBs machines and one tipper. On seeing the police the peddlers fled from the scene.

SDM Rakesh Prajapati said the demolition drive lasted five hours. It was a major operation against drug trafficking in this border area. He said the encroachers had raised these buildings on panchayat Shamlat Deh land. The panchayat had served notices to them in this connection twice during the past two months. Besides, revenue department’s notices had also been served on them.

“The encroachers, who had been indulging into drug peddling from these buildings, did not respond to these notices. Finally, the administration took action to evict the encroached land and demolished all structures in Bhadroya village today,” he asserted.