Jalandhar, February 10
Former Cabinet Minister and MLA Rana Gurjit Singh expressed profound alarm over the rampant abuse of narcotics and cross-border smuggling in Punjab. He welcomed the Governor’s call for deliberations on this pressing issue, while underscoring that eradicating drug abuse cannot be achieved through pedestrian marches or superficial awareness campaigns alone. Drastic, substantive action is non-negotiable. He lambasted the politicization of this crisis, where rhetoric supplants resolve and urgently implored the Governor and Punjab Government to initiate immediate, tangible interventions.
Asserting Punjab’s status as a border state, Rana highlighted the decades-long scourge of trans-border narcotics trafficking, which shows no abatement. With 50 kilometers of frontier under central jurisdiction, the onus squarely rests with the Central Government. Rather than staging awareness rallies, the Governor must exhort the Center to deploy robust countermeasures against this insidious infiltration.
Rana revealed that since 2014, cross-border smuggling has escalated alarmingly, with drones from Pakistan relentlessly breaching the 50-kilometer belt. Drone-delivered narcotics have become routine. In the past year, BSF seized 367 kilograms of heroin from across the border—figures that likely capture merely 5-10 per cent of the influx, as most consignments evade detection.
Rana pinpointed unemployment and agrarian distress as the principal drivers of surging trafficking and consumption. Punjab grapples with acute industrial paucity, leaving youth adrift. He demanded a massive central financial package to invigorate industry, foster job creation and extricate young Punjabis from narcotics’ pernicious grip. Rana excoriated the Punjab Government’s “War Against Drugs” as a egregious charade, mocking the populace.
