Chandigarh, Nov 16 (IANS) Punjab Police have destroyed over 151 kg heroin and 11 quintals poppy husk valued over Rs 800 crore in the international market, by burning them in a furnace in Amritsar.
The process of destruction was completed by the high-level drug disposal committee of contraband under the chairmanship of IGP (Counter Intelligence) Rakesh Agrawal.
A police spokesperson said the case properties of drug cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, in Amritsar and Fazilka were destroyed on Tuesday.
He said the disposal certificate for opium weighing 40.5 kg was also issued by the range-level drug disposal committee for depositing it in the Government Opium at Alkaloid Works in Madhya Pradesh.
Speaking at a meeting of the PLC candidates who contested the recent Assembly elections in Punjab, he said given the geopolitical situation previaling in the world in view of the Russia-Ukraine war, the country needs a stable, mature and strong leadership, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is providing.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has also argued that the mercy petition cannot be decided until the appeals filed by other convicts in the case before the apex court are not disposed of. Also, Rajoana has not challenged his conviction or sentence, either before the high court or the Supreme Court
Earlier, four persons, including two Afghanistan nationals, were arrested by the NCB. The fifth accused Shamim Ahmad was arrested from from Laxmi Nagar. A person called Shahid controlled the hawala racket of Dubai. Seeing that Shamim had good links with middlemen working in Dubai, Shahid included him in his gang.
Conceding the proposal of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department to introduce home delivery of atta under National Food Security Act (NFSA), the entire state has been divided into eight zones and the service will commence in one zone in the first phase, in two zones in the second phase, and in the remaining five zones in the last and third phase.
A decision to this effect was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said the posts belong to Group A, B and C. Major departments include Home Affairs, School Education, Health, Power and Technical Education.
Besides Mittal, the Chancellor of Lovely Professional University (LPU), others who were elected in the recently concluded biennial election from Punjab are businessman Sanjeev Arora and AAP Punjab co in-charge Raghav Chadha.