Minister slams Centre over cross-border drug smuggling

Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh on Thursday sought to corner the Centre over the drug problem, saying it has failed to stop the smuggling of narcotics from Pakistan with the help of drones.

He also asked when drone attacks by Pakistan during the recent border tensions were successfully thwarted, then why drugs-laden drones weren’t being intercepted.

“Punjab’s 3 crore people would never allow such conspiracies to succeed,” he said accusing BJP-led Centre of treating Punjab “unfairly” and attempting to “undermine” the state’s interests.

The minister said 25 years ago, synthetic drugs like heroin were “unknown in Punjab” but now these were widely available, for which previous governments should be blamed.

Singh made the remarks while taking part in an anti-drug campaign at Patiala villages, where he stressed on the need for collective community action to uproot the menace.

He called for coordination between the public, district administration and the police to end the problem.