A high-level meeting led by Deputy Chief Minister Incharge of Home (Police) and attended by NHRC Special Monitor and former BSF Director General Rakesh Asthana marked a pivotal moment in Meghalaya’s fight against drug trafficking. The meeting was joined by Minister Incharge of Social Welfare, Paul Lyngdoh, who highlighted critical concerns, ongoing initiatives, and urgent appeals made to the visiting official.
“We just had very important meeting taken at the level of Deputy Chief Minister Incharge Home Police, in the presence of Special monitor of the NHRC, the National Human Rights Commission. Rakesh Athena, former DG BSF and also the head of the narcotics control Bureau, who has visited Shillong, who is in all on a three-day visit to Meghalaya to take stock of the situation arising out of drugs trafficking in the state of Meghalaya,” said Lyngdoh.
“We briefed the special monitor of the NHRC on the various initiatives taken by the state government. And I’m glad to share with you that the Officer, a special monitor was very appreciative of the various interventions of the government of Meghalaya. He made a special remark about the fact that Meghalaya is one of the few States which has something like the Dream project which involves the entire Community and also includes educational institutions and faith-based organisations. So that he was very appreciative and assured us the full support of the NHRC.”
Lyngdoh underlined Meghalaya’s strategic vulnerability as part of a larger drug route. “Coming down to the brass tacks of the discussion, a few points were raised about for instance the fact that Meghalaya happens to be within the striking range of major drug supply chain which is the golden triangle of Myanmar. And therefore, the problem of supply is a major threat because these are unlike, for instance, the state of Punjab where the supply is locally based, here, the main supply chain comes from outside of Meghalaya.”
“So, we made a few suggestions, but the more exhaustive more detailed discussion will take place tomorrow where there will be a detailed discussion,” he added.
He said the meeting included “senior officials of the Home Police Department, including the DGP and officers. Then we had the Commission and Secretary Social Welfare, the Additional CS members are drawn from the Law Department and also officials of the Dream Mission.”
A key proposal made during the discussion was the call for a dedicated NCB unit in Shillong. “So in the discussion, we also made a plea that we sort the intervention of the NHRC for the creation of sub-zonal office of the NCB here in Shillong that is the Narcotics Control Bureau. For the sub-zonal office of the NCB, we sort the intervention of the NHRC in order to push this agenda forward.”
The Minister also brought attention to a pending Centre-funded project. “Then we also brought to the notice of the visiting officer of the NHRC about pretending proposal of the state government for the procurement of vehicle scanners, which is funded by Government of India. The proposal has already reached the Union Ministry, but there seems to be undue delay in sanctioning of these vehicles.”
“We had sought for initially two such vehicles. We have been assured that the Special monitor of the NHRC will intervene on behalf of the state government of Meghalaya. This is a special scheme of the Government of India, so we have sought for sanctions under that particular scheme. We have identified at least two entry points to the state of Meghalaya, and the DGP has been assigned with the responsibility of following up on this matter, along with the NHRC, whose special monitor is visiting the state to take stock of the situation. Both are in Ri Bhoi district.”
On the legal framework, Lyngdoh stressed the need to empower preventive measures under the PIT-NDPS Act. “We also discussed about the PITS NDPS Act, a major component of the Act is that there is a provision preventive detention, we sought that the period of preventive detention be further extended up to three years and currently there are already four persons have been detained under the PIT NDPS and there are 12 other cases that are in the stage of active concentration.”
