Amarinder questions logic of creating drug control board
Friday, 27/06/2014
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AMRITSAR: Local parliamentarian Captain Amarinder Singh has questioned the logic of constituting Narcotics Prevention and Control Board in the state when Narcotics Control Bureau was doing its job fine.
At a press conference here on Thursday, he said he feared that the new body to be headed by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal would only shield the Akalis who produced, promoted, and peddled drugs. “Some police personnel involved are protected by the Akalis who are shielded in turn by the Badals,” he said.
Referring to the government’s claiming that it would eradicate drug abuse from the state in two years, he asked the chief minister Parkash Singh Badal what he had been doing until now. “This is the time for urgent action, not eyewash. The police and the CM know who the culprits are, since many are Akalis,” Amarinder further said.
‘WHY DID THE MINISTERS QUIT?’
The senior Congress leader asked the BJP to explain why its four ministers in the state had quit. “Was it the disillusionment with the Akalis or the failure of your ministers?” he asked the saffron party.
On the BJP leaders’ claiming that plans were afoot to make Amritsar a “smart city”, he said: “They don’t realise that Amritsar’s value lies in its history and distinct heritage and culture.” He demanded that the state government should ask Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) to declare it a heritage city.
Highlighting the sewerage problem, he pointed out how a pre-monsoon light shower had inundated entire Amritsar. “Imaging what will happen once monsoon arrives,” he said. Later, he flagged off a rally to mark the anti-drug-addiction day. Congress leaders Rana Gurjeet Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, Sukh Sarkaria, Sawinder Singh Kathunangal, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Ranjeet Singh Chhjawaldi, Sukhjinder Singh “Lalli” Majithia, Sunil Datti, Ashwani Pappu, Vikas Soni, and Dinesh Bassi were present.
