Parkash Singh Badal seeks Centre's support to check drug inflow

PHAGWARA: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought support of the Central government for checking the flow of drugs in the state.

Addressing a gathering here, Badal said the curse of drugs was one of the biggest problems being faced by the country in general and Punjab in particular.

He said that the only solution for checking this menace was to totally cut down the supply line of drugs both from within the country and from abroad.

"The need of the hour is to evolve such a mechanism that disallows entry of even 10 grams of narcotics in the state," he said.

Badal said serious efforts must be initiated for sealing the border apart from desisting the neighbouring states of Punjab to openly sell drugs like poppy husk.

Exhorting all the political parties of the state to join hands against this menace, the Chief Minister said it was not the time to play dirty politics on this issue by "spitting venom" against each other but all the political parties should work collectively to check the problem.

He said that on its part, the state government has been making efforts for checking the problem by cracking down heavily on drug peddlers, besides setting up drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centers for the addicts.

Likewise, Badal said unemployment was the biggest reason of drug addiction and therefore a network of skill centers was being set up for enabling the youth to get self employed.