AIZAWL: Mizoram Governor General Vijay Kumar Singh has flagged serious concerns about the growing nuisance of drug abuse and trafficking in the state.
While speaking on the first sitting of the budget session of the state assembly on Wednesday, he said that the problem has come to alarming levels and is of top concern to the government.
Singh emphasized that Mizoram’s excise and narcotics department, along with other law enforcement agencies, has been making concerted efforts to curb the drug problem.
The Governor emphasized keeping stern watch to fight drug-linked crimes, ensuring peace at inter-state borders, and checking anti-national activities along Mizoram's borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh.
"The threat of drug peddling and abuse has reached alarming levels today and is of great concern to my government," Singh said in his first address in the state legislature.
In spite of the increasing drug issue, Singh assured that the overall law and order scenario in Mizoram was peaceful during the previous year.
He attributed this stability to the proactive approach and constant vigilance of the state police. He pointed out that the Mizoram Police have been working tirelessly to prevent agitations at inter-state borders.
Furthermore, in coordination with border guarding units such as the Assam Rifles and Border Security Force (BSF), the state police have also been carrying out international border patrols so that security from anti-national forces is provided.
Mizoram has an inter-state border of 325 km with Assam, Tripura, and Manipur, while its international borders cover an area of 510 km with Myanmar in the east and 318 km with Bangladesh in the west. Governor Singh announced that during the ongoing financial year, 600 drug runners have been arrested and prosecuted and 441 drug cases have been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985.
Further, 429.116 kilograms of different drugs were seized by authorities, and 37 foreign nationals were apprehended in cases of narcotics. The Governor also talked about the enforcement of the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Act, 2019, under which 4,364 people were arrested for its violations, and 4,862 cases were lodged. According to the law, the sale, production, and consumption of liquor are banned in the state.
Authorities have cited an increase in drug trafficking, more so heroin smuggling from Myanmar to Mizoram, since 2021 when a military coup rocked the neighboring nation. The stability crisis in Manipur has additionally worsened matters, as it is being exploited by the drug smugglers who are now employing Mizoram as a transit zone to smuggle drugs from across the borders to other states within India.
The 30-day budget session of the Mizoram Assembly began on Wednesday and will end on March 20. Chief Minister Lalduhoma, who is also in charge of the finance department, will table the state's annual budget on March 4.
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