Make law to confiscate property of drug peddlers: HP Cong to CM

Ahead of the commencement of the monsoon session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, the state Congress today asked Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to bring in a stringent law to check drug abuse, with the provision of confiscating property of drug peddlers.

A 15-member delegation of the state Congress led by its president Sukhvinder Singh Thakur submitted a memorandum to the chief minister in this regard here.

The delegation also demanded to make the provision of making drug peddling a non-bailable offence at least for one year. It expressed concern over synthetic drug and sought immediate steps, including bringing stringent law to check increasing drug abuse in the state.

Former minister Ram Lal Thakur, ex-chief parliamentary Secretaries Rohit Thakur, Sohan Lal Thakur and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, former MLAs and other Congress leaders were part of the delegation.

The chief minister assured the delegation that the state government was committed to make Himachal Pradesh a drug-free state.

It is due the initiatives of the state government that a meeting of seven neighbouring states was held in Chandigarh on Monday, in which the chief ministers of four northern states participated, Jai Ram Thakur said.

He said it has been decided that a joint strategy would be chalked out by these states to check drug abuse.

Himachal Pradesh government would also take up the matter to check drug abuse and peddling of synthetic drugs by conducting regular check on pharmaceutical industries, the chief minister said.