Efforts of Panipat police bear fruit, 864 drug addicts treated, counselled

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, June 8

With the efforts of the district police, 864 drug addicts have been treated and counselled at the drug de-addiction centre within six months after launching a special drive against drug menace in the district.

Following the inputs from the CID intelligence inputs, the district police had launched a special drive to curb the menace in the district in November month last year.

The Police Department during the special drive not only identified the hot spots in the district for drug smuggling but also identified the drug addicts in the villages and colonies.

“We have even conducted the survey of all villages in the district to identify the drug addicts with the help of ‘Gram Praharis’,” said Ajit Singh Shekhawat, Superintendent of Police (SP).

After preparing the list of drug addicts, the SHO of the area concerned brought them to the drug de-addiction centre at the General Hospital here, where they had been counselled and treated by Dr Mona Nagpal, Shekhawat asserted.

During the survey, it also came to the fore that maximum of them were habitual users of ganja, charas, opium and alcohol, he said.

The police teams were regularly keeping tabs on them and following up regularly and it came to the fore that maximum of them had stopped the intake of drugs, the SP claimed.As many as 36 cases had been registered in which 65 drug paddlers had been arrested within three months of the current year and recovered the drugs worth lakhs of rupees from their possession. Apart from this, 16 drug paddlers in 14 cases had been sentenced by the court.

The anti-narcotic cell recovered 60 kg ganja from a house in Batra colony on June 5 and registered a case against two drug peddlers under various sections of the NDPS Act.

Apart from this, the district had been divided between the special crime investigation teams (CIAs) and anti-narcotic cell (ANC) to work in these identified areas to curb drug menace. “The area of Yamuna border, including Rana Majra and Garhi Besak villages have been handed over to the CIA-1 unit, the area of Madlauda, Dahar and Israna has been handed over to the ANC, the colonies in the city have been handed over to the CIA-2 unit and the Chulkana, Bapoli and Samalkha area has been given to the CIA-3 unit,” said SP Shekhawat.Dr Mona Nagpal, in-charge drug de-addiction centre, said the police have brought scores of drug addicts for treatment at the centre. Maximum of them were using charas, ganja, opium and alcohol, Dr Nagpal said. They had been counselled properly and had undergone treatment here, she said.