SHILLONG: Leader of Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly and former Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma on Tuesday raised serious concern over what he described as “glaring lacunae” in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, warning that the shortcomings in the law are being exploited by cartels who deliberately use minors as peddlers to evade stringent punishment. Addressing media persons in Shillong, Dr Sangma said the drug menace has assumed alarming proportions, extending beyond state and national boundaries, and called for a coordinated, war-footing response to confront the crisis.
“You see that authorities across the state, across the region, across the country, are grappling the solution to the challenges of this whole network of peddlers and uninterrupted peddling of drugs and reaching the end users resulting in surge in the number of citizens, particularly the vulnerable youths landing up in problem as substance users and as you know, this problem is not confined to Meghalaya nor confined to region nor even confined to the nation as a whole, it goes beyond the boundaries beyond the international borders, it is a global problem and that’s the reason why there are lots of laws which we agreed upon many of the laws were enacted by the parliament, based on certain global engagement and the decisions arrived thereof,” he stated.
Dr Sangma emphasised the need to fully utilise the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to strike at the roots of drug cartels, arguing that despite massive seizures, the scale of the illicit trade remains undiminished. “Therefore, if you look at the genesis of prevention of money laundering act, it also is connected with this global resolve to deal with the whole circulation of money, which is covered under the so call definition of money laundering and which are actually the proceeds of crime therefore how the proceeds of crime of the criminals engage in these can very efficiently hide the money elsewhere. To prevent this whole network of rather the cartel working on this whole network, this laws were enacted by almost all other nations, India being one of them and therefore, if the problem is not confined to within the boundaries of the country, it is a global problem, you have to look at how this laws can be effectively utilised because the prevention of money laundering act is designed to put an end to accumulation of wealth through proceeds of crime,” he said.
Pointing to figures that reflect the enormity of the challenge, Sangma noted that the cumulative value of drugs seized in Meghalaya has crossed Rs 400 crore while Assam has reported seizures worth more than Rs 2,600 crore since 2021. “So these are the values of the seizes drugs, what about the drugs which have managed to skip seizure which have managed to reach the end users and where are they coming from, we have to understand from the geopolitical perspective, the challenge is that as a region we are confronted with,” he warned, drawing attention to the porous international borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar.
He was unequivocal on the NDPS Act’s limitations. “Therefore if the relevant laws are not good enough to go after the, because there are lots of lacuna in the NDPS act 1985, we are aware, the authorities are aware of it and the perpetrators are also aware of it and that is the reason you will end up seeing the cartel is using the minors, using children as peddlers because they know the law of the land, how the law will be enforced on the minors,” he remarked.
Earlier, Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh, replying to a Special Motion on the rise in drug addiction and HIV, admitted to a “grave and alarming situation” but maintained that the government had invoked tougher legal provisions. “We are all concerned not just as leaders of the state but also as parents as Guardians as uncles, as aunts, and as members of the society, that is Struggling to make its presence felt Globally. I’m happy that at least the Leader of Opposition made a very Clear cut Distinction, When he spoke of the problem of drugs addiction and its spread as a menace is just not just a regional or a state matter, not even as a national crisis, but a global phenomenon and a global problem,” Lyngdoh said, adding that the government has, for the first time, invoked the PIT-NDPS Act of 1988 to detain repeat offenders and confiscate properties linked to drug trafficking.
