To fight drug menace, Chandigarh to have anti-narcotic task force

Chandigarh, May 17

To fight the drug menace, the UT Administration has decided to have a dedicated anti-narcotic task force.

The decision was taken during the second state-level Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) meeting, chaired by UT Adviser Dharam Pal, here today.

After a detailed discussion on the drug situation in Chandigarh, it was decided to initiate various steps to check the flow of drugs in the city.

The Adviser said it was decided to have a dedicated anti-narcotic task force, to be headed by an IG-rank officer.

A dedicated anti-dark net cell would also be set up by the cyber cell of the Chandigarh Police to check the drug trade through dark web and prevent the spread of its tentacles in the city. In this project, college students and volunteers would also be involved.

The Adviser said sniffer dogs and scanners would be deployed at major mailing hubs to check drug smuggling through post/courier.

All pubs and restaurants in Chandigarh would have to mandatorily display “anti-drug signage”.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) would provide a dedicated control room number to deal with complaints of drug smuggling and drug smuggling-prone routes or borders of the city would be patrolled by the police regularly. “Capacity building to tackle drug smuggling will be given utmost importance by all departments and drug law enforcement agencies,” he said, adding that mass anti-drug awareness programmes would be launched targeting vulnerable sections.

The meeting, was convened by Gyanenshwar Singh, Deputy Director General (NR), NCB, and was attended by Nitin Yadav, Secretary (Home), UT, along with department heads/representatives, including, Yashpal Garg, Secretary, Health, the Secretary, Excise, the Secretary, Education, the Secretary, Social Welfare, the SSP (Crime) UT, the Deputy Director, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the Zonal Director, NCB, the Additional Director, NCB, the Additional Director, Mail Department of Posts, and the DIG, Border Security Force, among others. Amanjit Singh, Zonal Director, NCB, briefed the Adviser on the drug trafficking scenario in the UT. A detailed presentation on the NCORD mechanism was given by Gyanenshwar Singh.