The police chiefs of northern states on Wednesday resolved to cut the supply chain of narcotics and drugs besides setting up of a Common Police and Drug Secretariat to share relevant information between different Police forces regarding drug smugglers and gangsters operating in the region.
The decision was taken in the joint meeting of northern region police coordination committee, hosted by Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta wherein senior police officers from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, New Delhi and Chandigarh participated.
The meeting of state police chief came ahead the scheduled meeting of the states’ Chief Ministers to be held at Chandigarh on July 25, to be hosted by Punjab Government.
Gupta, during the meeting, proposed quarterly joint meetings of Northern Police Chiefs on rotation basis while adding that senior police officers heading Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Special Operations Group (SOG), Special Task Force (STF) and Special Cells should hold bi-monthly meetings for sharing vital information related to drugs and gangsters.
It was also decided at the meeting to develop and implement a common IT-based platform of member states for quick sharing of information to achieve better coordination and results in the drive against drugs and gangsters — to which all the Police chiefs agreed.
The Haryana DGP Manoj Yadava’s proposal to have a common Police and Drug Secretariat, both in physical and virtual space, was also accepted by all the state police chiefs.
Yadava proposed that the designated nodal police officers from the neighbouring states would be present at the common secretariat for prompt and effective sharing of information relating to inter-state crime and criminals, especially on drugs, gangsters and heinous crimes.
The State Police Chiefs also stressed on the need for modernisation of jails and for involvement of various stakeholders, such as health and education departments, apart from NGOs, in the drive against drugs, especially for effective ‘demand reduction’.
Himachal Pardesh DGP Sita Ram Mardi expressed that there should be intelligence sharing and coordinated drive and joint operations among the neighbouring States to cut the supply chain of narcotics.
Punjab and HP decided to carry out joint operations in Kangra-Pathankot area. Mardi also proposed that biometric identification should be made mandatory for obtaining mobile phone connections and for opening of bank accounts.
Chandigarh DGP Sanjay Beniwal advocated introduction of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the northern states to deal effectively with gangsters and hardcore criminals. On his suggestion, it was also decided that the possibility of extending Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS) to other states would be explored.
Rajasthan’s ADGP (ATS and SOG) Anil Paliwal proposed to take effective measures for deportation of foreigners involved in drugs. Uttarakhand IGP (Law and Order).
Deepam Seth mooted the idea to evolve a joint comprehensive policy on anti-drug measures for member states in which all the stakeholders and departments should be involved.
