Poor policing leading to people growing drugs in fields, says

Congress legislator Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco today claimed that the level of policing in Goa had "stooped so low" that people were "growing drugs in the fields".

Speaking in the state Legislative Assembly on demands for grants of the Home department, Lourenco further said that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was strict on drugs during his earlier tenure (as CM), had gone a "little weak".

"The level of policing has stooped so low that people in the state have started growing drugs in the fields. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was strict during his earlier tenure but now he was gone a little weak," the MLA claimed.

Parrikar was present in the House when Lourenco spoke.

"Why is no action being taken on drugs? Are we not serious on this issue? Why not wage a war on drugs? Is there any connivance between politicians, police and the drug mafia? Why are we not able to do it? Something is wrong somewhere," he questioned.

He referred to a recent raid by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on a factory where ketamine was allegedly being manufactured.

While Lourenco named the party (to which the factory's owner reportedly belongs), Speaker Pramod Sawant expunged it stating that the legislator could not name a person "who is not present in the House to defend himself."