Chandigarh, March 19
Former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and MP, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, expressed deep concern over the arrest of an Aam Aadmi Party sarpanch with drugs. He took a dig at Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s government, saying that drugs are openly being sold only because the government itself is involved. He added that the government needs to start a campaign “against those selling drugs” rather than just a “war against drugs.” The Punjab government’s anti-drug campaigns are proving ineffective, and the hollowness of its actions is now exposed.
“Instead of ensuring village development and serving the people, the government’s sarpanches are involved in selling drugs. This is the second AAP sarpanch arrested with drugs in a short span. This is the same AAP government that came to power claiming it would eliminate drugs from Punjab within four weeks. Yet, four years later, even their own sarpanches and party officials are involved in drug trafficking”, he said.
Randhawa said that today the police arrested ruling party sarpanch Lavpreet Singh from the village Kot Hirdaram in Amritsar along with two associates, with 4.3 kilograms of heroin. “During the checkpoint, authorities also recovered a .30 bore pistol, 4 rounds, and 30 live cartridges from their Scorpio vehicle. It was found that they were on their way to supply drugs to Kathunangal”, he added.
Randhawa also said that earlier, last week, the Narcotics Control Bureau had arrested sarpanch Paramjit Singh from the ruling party in the border district of Tarn Taran, village Kalsia. “Authorities recovered 18 kilograms of heroin from him, and he was alleged to have connections with Pakistani traffickers”, he said.
The former Deputy Chief Minister alleged that during the four-year tenure of the AAP government, drug trafficking has escalated from grams to kilograms. “This clearly shows that without the tacit support of CM Mann’s government, such large quantities of drugs could not be sold. The government’s “War Against Drugs” campaigns are deceiving the public and are only aimed at publicity in newspapers and TV channels”, concluded Randhawa.
