Jalandhar: Faced with sharp criticism following the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa on October 13, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab on Friday launched a targeted 60-day plan to dismantle drug networks, focusing primarily on 435 identified hotspots.
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann chaired a high-level review of the state’s Yudh Nashean Virudh (War Against Drugs) campaign at the Punjab Police Academy in Phillaur, bringing together deputy commissioners, senior superintendents of police, sub divisional magistrates (SDMs), and deputy superintendents of police (DSPs).
Director general of police Gaurav Yadav said that over the next two months, the state’s strategy will shift from an arrest-centric approach to a network-centric model designed to disrupt supply chains and neutralise financial incentives.
Mapping hotspots
Intelligence inputs, village defence committees, and district assessments helped identify the 435 hotspots, where police have mapped 2,913 listed peddlers and 312 major suppliers.
Each zone will be monitored directly by gazetted officers from both police and civil administration.
The recovery plan, headed by DCs, relies on joint action across government sectors to ensure illicit operations do not resurface. The local government will install CCTV cameras and streetlighting, while the health department expands de-addiction services. Simultaneously, the education department will run awareness campaigns involving students and parents, and the sports department will launch youth athletic programmes. Weekly progress reports will be mandatory for senior officials overseeing these initiatives.
Enforcement plan
Addressing the parallel threat of pharmaceutical drugs smuggled from Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Haryana, the DGP gave details of enforcement outcomes recorded since March 2022.
Police have registered 95,645 NDPS Act cases and arrested over 1.25 lakh drug peddlers. Seizures stand at 7,265kg of heroin and ₹60 crore in cash, alongside frozen properties valued at ₹902 crore across 374 cases.
Punjab currently holds a 90% conviction rate under the NDPS Act, the highest in the country.
The state’s broader anti-drug drive began with an initial focus on supply disruption and addict rehabilitation. A subsequent phase mobilised 1.5 lakh volunteers under the Pinda de Pehredaar initiative to form VDCs, laying the groundwork for the ongoing rural outreach campaign and the new 60-day hotspot strategy.