Need Centre's aid to plug supply of drugs: Badal

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said he would persuade the Centre to cut drugs' supply from across the border

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday said  he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to seek their intervention in plugging the supply of drugs from across the border.

Interacting with the media persons on the sidelines of the oath-taking ceremony of newly inducted Cabinet ministers in Chandigarh, Badal said the utmost concern of the state government at present was to make Punjab a drug-free state, for which the support of Central government to cut the supply of drugs from across the border was the need of the hour.

Badal said he would soon flag up this issue and persuade the Centre to take effective steps, including intensification of vigilance at the international borders beside banning the sale of drugs like poppy husk in Rajasthan.

Badal added the state government had embarked on a twin strategy to counter the menace of drugs in the state. He said on one hand, a special narcotic cell of police has been constituted to crackdown drug peddlers state and on the other hand, a massive drive has been initiated to rehabilitate drug addicts by administering them free medicines in the drug de-addiction centers across the state.