Drugs: Second-highest arrests, but no central NDPS grant to Punjab since 2018-19

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, December 10

Despite Punjab, a border state, recording the second highest arrests after Kerala in cases related to recovery of drugs in 2022, the Centre has not released any funds to the state for the control of narcotics over the past five years.

As many as 29,527 persons were arrested in Kerala under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act while the count stood at 16,831 in Punjab.

Highest for Mizoram

• Mizoram received the highest central funding of Rs 3,07,78,000 under the plan while there were 1,129 arrests in the state. Karnataka got the second highest funding of Rs 1,94,41,097 and witnessed 6,884 arrests.

Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh followed next with 11,400 and 10,732 arrests, respectively.

While Punjab got no funds under the “Assistance to states and UTs for narcotics control” scheme after the 2018-19 financial year, Rs 10,04,357 was allocated to Kerala during the period, according to data shared in Parliament by Union Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai.

Neighbouring Haryana received Rs 96,57,387 for the purpose while Himachal got Rs 1,29,94,125. Mizoram received the highest funding of Rs 3,07,78,000, followed by Karnataka at Rs 1,94,41,097. Besides Punjab, the states that didn’t get any money are Chhattisgarh, Manipur and Delhi.

Among northern states and UTs, Haryana witnessed 5,025 arrests under the NDPS Act during the five-year period, followed by 2,755 in Jammu and Kashmir, 2,215 in Himachal and 224 in Chandigarh. To curb the movement of narcotics, the Centre had approved cadre restructuring of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) with the creation of 425 new posts at different levels in 2022 and 2023.

Under the Centre’s scheme, the creation of four new regional offices was approved in Amritsar, Guwahati, Chennai and Ahmedabad, besides five new zonal offices at Gorakhpur, Siliguri, Agartala, Itanagar and Raipur. The 12 sub-zonal units were to be upgraded to zonal units to increase the NCB’s pan-India presence.