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Chandigarh,Acceding to the request of Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal with regard to strengthen the zonal and sub-zonal office of Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) at Chandigarh and Amritsar, the Union Home Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh has given nod to spruce up the functioning of these offices by enhancing the strength of staff by posting 40 additional personnel.
This decision was conveyed by the Union Home Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh to the Chief Minister through a DO letter addressed to him.
The Union Home Minister informed Mr. Badal that the NCB has been instructed to review the position of the entire staff and decide the possibility of increasing the staff in the Amritsar Sub-Zone and Chandigarh Zone accordingly. He said that efforts were afoot to increase the total strength of NCB by another 209 posts adding that there would be additional increase of 30 staff in Chandigarh zone and 10 staff in Amritsar Sub-Zone. Mr. Rajnath Singh said that the NCB, which was the central coordinating agency against the war on drugs, has already taken a slew of measures to tackle this problem.
The Union Minister further said that at present there were 13 zones and 12 sub zones of the NCB and concerted efforts were made to spruce up the Chandigarh zone and Amritsar sub zone. Underscoring the need for an integrated action from all the drug law enforcement agencies and even the Punjab Police, the Union Home Minister has said that the eradication of this menace needed special efforts by the State Government as well as the Central Government. He said that apart from the NCB, there were various other drug law enforcement agencies such as Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Narcotics, State Police, State Excise, Customs and Central Excise and Central Bureau of Investigation who were also empowered to control the drug trafficking under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985. Likewise, Mr. Rajnath Singh also mentioned that the Border Security Force was also empowered under the Customs Act 1962 to interdict drugs and it acts as a seizing agency on the Indo-Pak border.
Pertinently, Mr. Badal in his letter to Union Home Minister on June 13 this sought Mr. Singh’s personal intervention for strengthening the zonal and sub zonal office of NCB at Chandigarh and Amritsar respectively for tackling the grave problem of drugs in far more efficient and result oriented manner.
