J&K: Public Safety Act slapped on arrested drug peddlers, contraband recovered

By Basharat Rashid*
In 2020, Jammu and Kashmir Police in Awantipora district played a vital role in curbing the drug menace throughout the year, and arrested more than hundred drug peddlers, which happened for the first time in the region.The drug peddlers were arrested from the different parts of Awantipora and contraband substances were recovered from their possession, following which cases were registered, while several slapped with Public Safety Act (PSA).
As per the official figures, 109 drug peddlers were arrested in total, in which cases were registered against 55, and 08 peddlers lodged under PSA. Besides that, Bung and poppy cultivation were destroyed on more than three hundred kanals of land, which was used to produce drugs.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Awantipora,Tahir Saleem Khan told this journalist that as compared to previous years, police in Awantipora managed to arrest more people who were involving in drug peddling.He said that from the year 2014 to 2019, the highest number of arrestees were 43, in the year 2016, with 25 cases, and 4 PSAs, “which clearly indicates that 2020 has break all the records with more than double figures than any year since 2014.”
He appreciated his team for doing this commendable job and hailed the contribution of every policeman in curbing the drug related activities in the whole police district. In a press conference held at Awantipora a few days back, Khan said that his team had earlier destroyed bung and poppy cultivation in many places, following which major crackdown on drug peddlers began, which still continues.
He said that there is clear message to the drug peddlers that Awantipora police is committed to eradicate the drug menace throughout the district, and assured quick and more stringent action against the persons involved in drug peddling. Khan however believed that role of parents to educate their children is more important than the police action later, and appealed parents to look after their children, for their day to day activities, to save them from drugs.
Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Awantipora, Ajaz Choudhary was heading the police teams throughout the year, to ensure crackdown on drug peddlers comprehensively. Talking to this journalist, DySP Ajaz Choudhary said that Awantipora police left no stone unturned to curb the drug menace and worked day and night in 2020 to book peddlers under NDPS and PSAs. He said that “people should take care of their wards and should not let them free, as they usually involve in drugs, when they meet bad companies around.”
Choudhary said that drug peddlers usually target the children of rich families and give them greed of getting free drugs, following which children (teenagers) get addicted and start paying when they get no drugs on time. He believed that proper parental care and awareness programmes in the schools may help more in curbing the drug menace and uproot it completely.

Awantipora police recently organised an anti-drug rally, which was attended by the locals of the nearby areas as well, who all hailed the initiative of the police to uproot drugs from the region. A local namely Ghulam Mohammad Parray has said that “drugs are more dangerous than coronavirus pandemic, which need to be eradicated not only in Awantipora, but in other districts as well.”
He appreciated the Awantipora police and requested the police officials of other places to adopt the same way in order to end drug menace from the Kashmir valley. “Awantipora police worked hard to end drug menace in all the places here. Drugs are more dangerous than corona-virus, and its end is the need of hour. Police in other districts should adopt the same way to uproot and end drug menace,” Parray said.
Aadil Afroz, another resident told this journalist that police has done a marvellous job by taking stern action against the drug peddlers, which helped the society to rescue the youth from evils. He congratulated the police team particularly SDPO Awantipora Ajaz Choudhary, SSP Awantipora Tahir Saleem Khan, SHO Younis Khan and the whole team of Awantipora for taking pragmatic steps to curb drug menace in the district.
It’s pertinent to mention here that Awantipora police has been organising sports events and cultural programmes as well, side by side, ‘with the motive to inculcate skills among the new generation, so that they may stay away from drug related activities and make a good future for them.’
---
*Journalist based in Kashmir

Comments

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857 By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Spirit of leadership vs bondage: Of empowered chairman of 100-acre social forestry coop

By Gagan Sethi* This is about Khoda Sava, a young Dalit belonging to the Vankar sub-caste, who worked as a bonded labourer in a village near Vadgam in Banskantha district of North Gujarat. The year was 1982. Khoda had taken a loan of Rs 7,000 from the village sarpanch, a powerful landlord doing money-lending as his side business. Khoda, who had taken the loan for marriage, was landless. Normally, villagers would mortgage their land if they took loan from the sarpanch. But Khoda had no land. He had no option but to enter into a bondage agreement with the sarpanch in order to repay the loan. Working in bondage on the sarpanch’s field meant that he would be paid Rs 1,200 per annum, from which his loan amount with interest would be deducted. He was also obliged not to leave the sarpanch’s field and work as daily wager somewhere else. At the same time, Khoda was offered meal once a day, and his wife job as agricultural worker on a “priority basis”. That year, I was working as secretary...

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Proposed Modi yatra from Jharkhand an 'insult' of Adivasi hero Birsa Munda: JMM

Counterview Desk The civil rights network, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), which claims to have 30 grassroots groups under its wings, has decided to launch Save Democracy campaign to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to be launched on November 15 from the village of legendary 19th century tribal independence leader Birsa Munda from Ulihatu (Khunti district).

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”

From triple centurion to master coach: Bob Simpson’s enduring legacy

By Harsh Thakor* Former Australia cricket captain and coach Bob Simpson has died in Sydney aged 89. He leaves behind an indelible legacy, having shaped Australian cricket for more than four decades as a player, captain and coach. Beyond the field, he also served the game as a law-maker, referee and commentator, carving a permanent niche among the all-time greats of Australian cricket.

Counterview

Search This Blog