Take swift action against those involved in trade, supply of drugs: CS

Jammu, Apr 8: Chief Secretary Atul Dulloo today directed the concerned to take swift action against those found indulging in any trade and supply of drugs.

Acording to a press release, he was addressing the 9th UT level Apex committee meeting of NCORD . The meeting was convened to have better coordination among different stakeholders at the highest level to control illicit trade and supply of Narcotics in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Chief Secretary enquired about the action taken reports on previous decisions made in the meeting held on January 1 this year. He took notice of the measures taken up, so far, by the administration in establishment of special NDPS courts and augmentation of drug de-addiction facilities across the districts.

Dulloo also had deep insights about the pharmacies adhering to the norms of having CCTVs installed and computerised billing for effective prevention of any misuse of psychotropic substances being sold by them. He told them to comply with these measures strictly without any fail besides ensuring regular monitoring of the footages captured by these CCTVs. He took notice of the number of detentions made in the UT during the previous year and the proportion of successful convictions made in the court of law. He asked about the properties of drug dealers attached, so far.

The Chief Secretary also asked about the capacity building of Investigation Officers (IOs) improving their abilities to prepare cases professionally resulting in higher conviction rates. He sought details of the steps taken against the police personnel for not preparing cases as per the SOP resulting in frequent acquittals of arrested persons.

“The primary victims of this social threat are our youngsters so it is highly essential to have enhanced vigil around the educational institutions and other hotspots in each district,” he said. The Chief Secretary discussed in detail the augmentation of drug de-addiction facilities and long-term rehabilitation of victims in association with other departments like Social Welfare, Mission Youth and RDD. He suggested for having a reward policy in place for providing meaningful information about the traders involved in this illegal business.

He enquired from each of the participants about their suggestions in preventing people and possible actions to nip this evil from its roots out of the UT. He asked them to work with enhanced coordination with each other for total eradication of this trade thus making J&K ‘Nasha Mukht’ in real sense.

In his presentation, Special DG Crime, Deepak Kumar, highlighted that this year the number of detentions and convictions have taken a quantum leap by laying more focus on carrying out quality investigation of NDPS cases. He also shared that effective deterrents are being put in place including sealing of properties of the people involved in this nefarious trade.

It was given out that the department has issued necessary orders for establishment of special NDPS courts in J&K besides ensuring adherence to computerized billing and installation of CCTVs by the businesses including retailers and wholesale dealers.

As far as the seizures are concerned, it was given out that nine kg of heroine, 15.6 kg Brown Sugar, 120.4 kg Charas, 567 kg Poppy straw, 107 kg Bhang, 33,967 caps/tablets, 70 injections and 1229 syrup bottles were seized this year by the law enforcement agencies across J&K.