Chandigarh: The Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is leaving no stone unturned in curbing the drug menace in the state. In this regard, the Punjab government has transformed the Special Task Force (STF), which is the top state-level drug law enforcement unit, into the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF). The ANTF has been equipped with extra manpower and resources, along with technology to arrest the proliferation of drug menace in the border state of Punjab.
While inaugurating the new office of the ANTF in Mohali, the Punjab CM also unveiled the drug Helpline and WhatsApp Chatbot (9779100200). On the occasion, CM Mann said that the manpower of the ANTF will be doubled to 861 from 400. He added that the new posts for the ANTF will be created as part of the 10,000 new posts that will come in the state’s police department.
The CM said that the state government allocated a budget of Rs 12 crore to develop the technical unit of the ANTF into a state-of-the-art agency. This will be facilitated by procuring hi-tech software and hardware and by ultimately upgrading the infrastructure. Further, the mobility of the ANTF will see a boost through the procurement of 14 new Mahindra Scorpio vehicles.
Additionally, the CM announced that one acre of land will be handed over to the ANTF in Mohali to establish its headquarters. A budget of Rs 10 crore will also be provided to the ANTF from the Punjab State Cancer and Drug Addiction Treatment Infrastructure Fund. This fund will be utilised to implement the enforcement-de-addiction-prevention strategy of the Punjab government.
The Anti-Drug Helpline and WhatsApp Chatbot (9779100200) ensure that the drug menace in the state is properly taken care of. The helpline offers common citizens an opportunity to inform the concerned authorities about drug traffickers, while it will also enable quick medical intervention for those intending to undergo de-addiction.
The Punjab government is putting the best of its efforts into curbing the issue of drug trafficking at the grassroots level as well as identifying the big players behind the drug problem.
Recently, Punjab DGP inaugurated the new Anti-Narcotics Task Force’s (ANTF) Support Services Unit (SSU) at the ANTF Headquarters. Earlier, he had inaugurated the ANTF’s Intelligence and Technical Unit (SITU), established at the cost of Rs 11 crore.
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