99% villages drug-free, claims Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Friday claimed that 99 per cent of the drugs had been eradicated from state villages and that government was working to root out the “remaining seed” to make Punjab free of drugs.

The remarks were made during the launch of the “Nasha Mukti Yatra” at Lakhanpal village in the district. During the second phase of the “Yudh Nasheyan Virudh” campaign, village-level meetings and drives against drugs will be held across the 13,000 villages of the state, the CM said.

He also said that the drugs problem took root and spread in the state during the tenure of previous governments and that the AAP had taken it upon itself to make the state free of drugs.

Addressing the gathering of village defence committee leaders and residents of Lakhanpal, Dhani Pind, Samrai and Jandiala in Jalandhar, the CM said, “We met a sarpanch at Langroya village in Nawanshahr, who said 99 per cent drugs had been eradicated, but the seed is still there. We will destroy the seed too. We won’t let the drug problem remain in any village, lest it spring up again like weeds.”

The CM said, “Punjab was a great state which was known for its culture, but bad governments came and ruined it. Their ministers themselves were responsible for the sale of drugs and used to broker deals between smugglers. One government started and the other expanded. Culprits were allowed to go scot-free. We have started cleaning this mess for the past two months.”

Speaking on the occasion, AAP national convener and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal reiterated that the state had been made 99 per cent drugs- free as per village sarpanches. He said there are no parallels to this kind of drive against drugs in any state of the country in the history of Independent India.

Kejriwal said, “Former government ministers sold drugs but none of our ministers is involved in the drugs trade. We were asked to be wary of big drug smugglers. But we won’t allow our youth to be ruined. Big smugglers are being caught and bulldozers are razing their homes. Of the 10,000 smugglers caught in the state, 1.5K are small drug smugglers and 8.5K are big. Meets against drugs will be held across the 13,000 villages in the state. Even if there are estimated 15,000 to 20,000 drug smugglers in state, 3 crore people of Punjab can fight them. Punjab police can’t do this alone. We need support of 3 crore people. “

The CM administered oath to residents of Lakhanpal, Dhani Pind, Samrai and Jandiala villages in Jalandhar against drugs at the end of the event.

Can’t give our share of water to Haryana: Mann

Speaking on the issue of water, the CM said, “We had told Haryana that its share of water was used up on March 31 and it will have to wait until May to use its new quota. We can’t give our (share of) water to Haryana, and are also fighting the same in court. People are killed for water. We will have to protect our waters.”

The CM also said that the work of cleaning and reviving 15,000 village ponds in state was afoot along with the building of stadiums, link roads for which money would be released soon.