SAD chief asks Modi to intensify surveillance along border

On Monday, thousands of denizens led by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)'s President Sukhbir Singh Badal braved intense cold wave conditions and congregated along the international border at Attari near Amritsar and demanded complete sealing of the border and ban on cultivation and sale of opium and poppy husk in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Addressing the gathering, the SAD president appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allocate special funds in the coming budget to modernise surveillance along the international border with Pakistan.

"Punjab is being defamed though it does not produce a single gram of drug and is only a transit point. The destination is the country," he said, adding sensors and CCTVs besides other equipment should be installed along the border to seal it completely.

Badal also called for banning cultivation and sale of opium and poppy husk in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. "There cannot be two sets of laws in one country. Some states are earning profits by selling drugs, while Punjab is battling with drugs," he said. He saidRajasthan and Madhya Pradesh had earned Rs 100 and Rs 115 crore, respectively, through the sale of drugs last year. He also said drugs were easily available in many states, known for rave parties. He said in Goa only, 55 arrests had been made under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in 2013.

"Isn't this a joke?" he said, while stressing the war against drugs in Punjab had led to more than 25,000 arrests last year in addition to record seizures of illegal drugs.