Onus on govt, says BSF

Tribune News Service

Attari, January 27

The Director-General of the Border Security Force (BSF), DK Pathak, has put the onus of checking the drug menace in the state on the Punjab government, saying that synthetic drugs, not heroin, is the real problem.

Pathak was here at the conclusion of a three-day programme to mark the 66th Republic Day celebrations at the Attari-Wagah check post.

Talking to the media after the Retreat, he said: “As per a study conducted by the Community Medicine Department of Rajindra Medical College, Patiala, and Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, only 0.9 per cent of addiction was owing to heroin and the rest because of synthetic drugs produced in the country.”

He said the study was based on interviews of addicts in 10 government and private de-addiction centres at Patiala, Nawanshahr, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Kharar, Faridkot and Bathinda.

“Heroin, which is the only drug smuggled from across the border fence, accounts for only 0.9 per cent addiction,” he said.

Answering media queries, he said in the past two years, the BSF had made huge seizures of heroin because of stringent measures taken by the force. “The seizures, in fact, are much more than the collective seizures by other agencies,” he claimed.

On ceasefire violations, he said there had been 15 such instances in this month alone. The DG inaugurated a huge LED screen for tourists at the spectators’ gallery for a better view of the Retreat ceremony.

He also inaugurated battery-operated golf carts for senior citizens and the infirm for witnessing the Retreat.