Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has announced a three-month deadline for finishing the scourge of drug addiction in Punjab. The state is counted among the worst hit by the problem.
Despite political parties making eradication of drug addiction as their top promise, not much happens on the ground.
Eradicating drugs is definitely a tall order and that too in a time bound manner. The Punjab government has already launched an aggressive campaign across the state, while trying to show its seriousness to curb the problem.
On Monday, two alleged drug smugglers were reportedly injured in an encounter with the police.
Mann is not the first Chief Minister to “resolve” to finish the problem of drugs in a time-bound manner. His immediate predecessor Capt Amarinder Singh had promised to finish drugs from the state within four weeks. He had made a pledge on the holy ‘Gutka Sahib’.
However, realising that it was practically impossible to do that within four weeks, he explained that he had actually said that he would “break the back” of the drug problem in the state which, he claimed, he had been able to do to a large extent.
A Special Task Force (STF) was constituted under Additional Director General of Police Harpreet Sidhu. The STF did manage to curb the problem to some extent. But that was far from satisfactory.
Setting the timelines for eradication of drugs anywhere is really a tall order. It is not only the “supply chain” alone that has to be broken, which looks highly improbable. It is a hydra-headed problem and will need a multi-pronged long-term approach.
Punjab has a long border with Pakistan, which is fenced with barbed wire. This prevents and discourages the “physical” movement of smugglers. But the smugglers have always found ways and means to smuggle in the drugs.
Earlier, they used plastic pipes through which they would push in the drug consignments. There used to be a high likelihood of getting noticed and caught.
Now the smugglers are using drones with better weight carrying capacity to smuggle in the drugs. The challenge is increasing day by day. The supply chain of drugs that starts from Afghanistan through Pakistan is uninterrupted. Punjab continues to be the transit point. In the process, a lot of quantity of drugs ends up in the state itself.
What the state government is doing right now is identifying the local smugglers and peddlers. They are a crucial link in the supply chain as they provide the drugs to end users.
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The government will have to go beyond that. The drug mafia is never short of people who work for them. If the police manage to nab one peddler, the smugglers hire more with lucrative incentives. This is despite the fact that the drug laws are very stringent. Partly due to ignorance and compulsion, owing to lack of jobs and unemployment opportunities, many youths end up in the vicious cycle.
Dealing with the problem of drugs is not just a law-and-order issue and cannot be finished by the police alone. The Punjab government does not have any control over the original sources/ suppliers. A lot depends on the Border Security Force, which guards the borders. But with sophisticated drone technology, the BSF’s job also becomes difficult. These drones used by smugglers from across the border are not so easy to detect.
It is believed that not even ten percent of the quantity of the drugs smuggled in gets seized, while ninety percent slips in and reaches different destinations of the country and even abroad. Most of the drugs that land up in Punjab are believed to be meant for further supply to different countries.
Punjab CM has a huge task at hand, which is not completely within his control. As long as the supply does not stop from abroad, the government can do little.
The state government can do everything, including bulldozing the properties of the peddlers and suppliers. The problem will not end there. It has to be a coordinated effort not only by different agencies, but also by different states, particularly the neighbouring states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
For example, a substantial quantity of synthetic drugs comes to Punjab from HP. Poppy husk comes from Rajasthan, where it is legally available in a regulated manner. Given the hassle-free movement of people between different states, the supply of drugs also becomes easy.
While the drug problem is prevalent in other states as well, in Punjab it is more serious. It will need a more serious, more consistent and continuous campaign instead of a knee jerk reaction. It is not a law-and-order issue alone.
As the government has launched a firm crackdown, the campaign will need to be taken to its logical conclusion. There is undoubtedly a consensus across the political spectrum in dealing with the curse that is threatening the very existence of the youth.
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