IEP Chandigarh, January 9

With the decisive war against drugs waged on the directions of Chief Minister Punjab Bhagwant Mann to root out the menace of drugs completed half-year, Punjab Police have arrested as many as 9917 drug smugglers including 1447 big fish since July 5, 2022. The Police have registered a total of 7533 first information reports (FIRs) of which 852 are related to commercial quantity.Inspector General of Police (IGP) Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill, who was addressing his weekly Press Conference here on Monday said that the Police teams have recovered 418.44-Kg Heroin from across the state after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas besides laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state. Additionally, 147.5-Kg heroin was recovered by the teams of Punjab Police from Seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 565.94-Kgs in just six months, he said.Apart from seizing big-haul of heroin, the IGP said that Police have also recovered 407-Kg opium, 407-Kg Ganja, 233 quintals of poppy husk, and 33.88 lakhs tablets/capsules/injections/vials of Pharma opioids from across the state. The Police have also recovered Rs 7.72 crores of drug money from the possession of drug smugglers arrested in these six months.Giving weekly update, the IGP said that in last one week, the police have arrested 311 drug smugglers/suppliers after registering 247 first information reports (FIRs), including 19 commercial, and recovered 11.76-Kg Heroin, 9.87-Kg opium, 6.37 quintals of poppy husk, and 32118 tablets/capsules/injections/vials of Pharma opioids besides recovering Rs 2.88 lakh drug money from their possession.He said that with 13 more Proclaimed Offenders (POs)/Absconders in NDPS cases arrested in the last one week, the total number of arrests reached 608 since the special drive to arrest POs/absconders was started on July 5, 2022.Pertinently, Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab Gaurav Yadav had given strict instructions to all the CPs/SSPs to investigate backward and forward linkages minutely in each and every case, especially related to drug recoveries, even if they recover a meager amount of drugs.Meanwhile, on the direction of Chief Minister Punjab Bhagwant Mann to make Punjab a drug-free state, extensive anti-drug drives have been launched by the Punjab Police to combat the menace of drugs from the border State. The DGP has also strictly ordered all the CPs/SSPs to identify all hotspots where drugs are prevalent and all top drug smugglers in their jurisdictions. He also directed the Police chiefs to effectively forfeit the property of all the arrested drug smugglers so that their ill-gotten money could be recovered.

IEP Chandigarh, January 9:

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday mourned the death of Punjab Police Constable Kuldeep Singh Bajwa, who attained martyrdom in line of duty at Phagwara, and announced Rs 2 crore to the family of martyr as a mark of respect for his supreme sacrifice for the country.

          The Chief Minister said that Constable Kuldeep Bajwa had attained martyrdom while performing his duty at Phagwara.  He said that out of this Rs 2 crore, Rs 1 crore will be given as ex-gratia by the state government whereas another payment of insurance cover worth Rs 1 crore will be made by the HDFC bank. Bhagwant Mann said that this initiative is in recognition of the immense contribution of this son of soil towards maintaining law and order in the state.

          Meanwhile, the Chief Minister reiterated that the state government is duty bound to help the families of the soldiers who sacrifice their life at the altar of the motherland.

IEP CHANDIGARH, January 9      

     The ongoing drive against anti-social elements launched on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann achieved a major breakthrough after Anti Gangster Task Force (AGTF) of Punjab Police in a joint operation with central agencies and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday arrested three key operatives of Gangster Rajesh Kumar alias Sonu Khatri for their direct involvement in Makhan Kang Murder Case, which took place in Nawanshahr in March 2022. The trio was arrested from Ambilvali in district Thane in Maharashtra.          Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav identified the arrested accused persons as Amandeep Kumar alias Rancho, Shivam alias Avtar alias Tara and Gurmukh Singh alias Gora, all resident of SBS Nagar. All the accused persons have a criminal history with a number of criminal cases pertaining to murder, attempt to murder, extortion, carjacking and under NDPS Act registered against them, he added.          Divulging details, DGP Gaurav Yadav said that using technical and human intelligence, AGTF headed by ADGP Promod Ban traced out the location of accused persons in Maharashtra, following which, a Police team led by DSP AGTF Rajan Parminder and Insp Pushpinder Singh was sent to Maharashtra under the supervision of AIG AGTF Sandeep Goel.          “The teams of Punjab Police’s AGTF in a well-coordinated operation with central agencies and ATS Maharashtra have arrested the trio accused persons from a hide-out at Om Sai Apartments in Thane of Maharashtra arranged by the Gangster Sonu Khatri,” he said.          The DGP said that with the arrest of these three key operatives of Gangster Sonu Khatri, the Punjab Police have got vital clues about the remaining absconding accused persons in the Makhan murder case.          He said that further interrogation of the arrested persons is expected to unveil the future criminal activities planned by Gangster Sonu Khatri.          Meanwhile, Punjab Police have procured four days of transit remand of the arrested accused persons after producing them at the local Court in Maharashtra.

IEP Chandigarh, January 9 

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday asked the Markfed- the premier cooperative of the state, to further launch an aggressive marketing campaign to capture a sizable chunk of consumer market not only in the state but across the country and even abroad. The Chief Minister, who released the calendar of Markfed here today at his office in Punjab Civil Secretariat- I, said that it is the need of the hour to further strengthen the cooperative sector in the state. He asked the officers to further explore possibilities for popularizing the existing and new range of products manufactured by MARKFED. Bhagwant Mann said that since, the ‘Sohna’- a trusted household name known for its reliable products enjoy the confidence of millions of people thus it had vast potential for its growth. The Chief Minister said that the leading state cooperatives have a perceptible presence in the domestic market adding that ‘Sohna’ products have created a niche for its ever growing demand in the domestic as well as international market after having dominated the rural and regional market. Bhagwant Mann asserted that MARKFED has already left an impeccable imprint in the market with the quality food products like Ghee, Refined Oils, Sauces and Basmati Rice and others. He said that MARKFED must make endeavor to further develop an efficient marketing network to facilitate the sale of its premium products at the country’s leading malls, stores, outlets and mega markets besides tapping the unexplored potential of exports. The Chief Minister asked the officers to work out a time bound action plan to make the marketing of their products through launching suitable advertising cum marketing campaigns to boost their sales enormously. Bhagwant Mann said that the marketing team of MARKFED must further pull up their socks to turn the fortunes of this PSU to reach its zenith in marketing its wide range of time-tested and quality products. Congratulating the officers for releasing the calendar to mark the New Year, he asked them to render their services zealously.

IEP Chandigarh, January 9

Haryana Government has issued posting and transfer orders of one IAS and four HCS officers with immediate effect.

Sh. Ashok Khemka, Additional Chief Secretary, Science and Technology Department has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Archives Department.

Sh. Manav Malik, Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Radaur has been posted as Inquiry Officer, State Agricultural Marketing Board.

Sh. Amit Kumar-II, Joint Director (Admn.), Tourism has been posted as Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Radaur.

Sh. Mayank Bhardwaj, Estate Officer, HSVP, Kaithal and Kurukshetra has been posted as City Magistrate, Rewari.

Sh. Devendra Sharma, City Magistrate, Rewari has been posted as Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Kalayat.          Sh. Virender Singh, Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Badhra has been given an additional charge of CEO, Zila Parishad, Charkhi Dadri and CEO, DRDA, Charkhi Dadri.