CHANDIGARH: Participating through video conferencing in the regional ‘Drug Trafficking and National Security’ meet, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann urged the centre to give financial assistance of Rs 60 crores per annum for ten years to the state for setting up special NDPS courts and recruitment of necessary staff. CM Mann said that 35,000 NDPS cases are pending for trial as on January 01, 2025. He added that a Session Court takes seven years on average to complete trial for pending cases at the present rate of disposal. He said that in the next five years, this average disposal time will increase from seven years (35,000 pending cases) to 11 years (55,000 pending cases). In order to clear the pendency in the next five years, the state needs to create 79 new exclusive NDPS Special Courts in Punjab and appoint 79 public prosecutors along with supporting staff.He also requested Union Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure funding from National Fund for Control of Drug Abuse (Chapter 7-A of NDPS Act) for curbing drug circulation in the state.Using the funds, an Anti-Narcotics Task Force, live monitoring systems for six border districts, purchase of equipment for technical surveillance, infrastructure and logistic requirement for 5G jamming solution for prisons, de-addiction centers in jails, AI surveillance systems in jail, special prison for drug traffickers and assistance for anti-drug awareness campaigns in all 28 districts. Mann said that the state had sought Rs 2829 Crore through 16th Finance Commission which should be approved at the earliest for effective law enforcement and upgrading infrastructure and logistic support of ANTF and prisons. Flagging another issue, Mann said that with the aim to control, reclaim and rejuvenate drug hotspots in Punjab, hiring of counsellors and coordinators for conducting surveys and studies regarding impact of CADA amounting to Rs 107 crores was submitted to Government in 2022, but nothing has been allotted till date. He said that the state faced a full scaled insurgency in the late seventies and eighties, and now is fighting a proxy war with Pakistan to thwart drug trafficking carried out by individuals allegedly supported by Pakistan. Mann said that Border Security Force (BSF) deployed on the Pakistan border in Punjab need to be strengthened. Raising another issue, he said that In the last five years, 1247 drone sightings have been reported and 417 drones have been recovered which is a minuscule of the total recovery. Currently only 12 jamming systems are operational on 552 kilometer of International Border. He said that these cater to only a fifth of the entire border stretch. Mann said that a huge cache of drugs and arms have been recovered so far adding that this recovery can be far more for which atleast, 50 more advanced technology jamming systems are required.
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