SHILLONG:
Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh, on July 4, informed that the state government has notified the three-member Advisory Board, ahead of enforcing a stringent act against drug abuse called the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT NDPS) Act 1988.
Briefing media persons in the city, Lyngdoh informed that the Advisory Board will comprise of Retired Justice Shivaji Pandey as chairman, and Senior Advocates ND Chullai and Tsering Yangi as members.
“With the constitution of the Advisory Board, we are now in a position to fully implement this act with immediate effect,” Lyngdoh said, adding that this Act of 1988 is more severe and effective in dealing with drug abuse in a state like Meghalaya, which has been identified under Clause 10 of the Act, as one of the vulnerable areas for drug trafficking and abuse.
He informed that there was a need to implement a stronger law as the earlier act – Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985 had major loopholes, some of which facilitated violators to circumvent the Act rendering it ineffective.
Lyngdoh further informed that this act will address complaints about habitual violators who resort to drug trafficking soon after coming out of the police station or jail. “The Act will take care of such cases because it will empower the state to detain such persons for a period of not less than six months, and extending it upto six months,” the minister added.
However, if detention crosses six months, then the matter comes under the Advisory Board for its consideration.
Giving further details on the Act, he said that the state is vested with power of validating such detentions. “Detentions can range from a minimum of 3 months to maximum of 2 years and any person detained under this order and released on the advice of the Advisory Board is also liable to be re-arrested and detained in case of fresh cases being filed against such person,” Lyngdoh added.
He also informed that the move is to tighten the grip of the state against drug trafficking and turn its attention to curbing the menace, further adding that offenders are liable to be transferred from one place to another within the state or outside the state.
He also mentioned that this Act is applicable across the country except Jammu and Kashmir, adding that Para 10 of the Act deals with areas of operation, where the highly vulnerable locations are identified and in this case, the highly vulnerable areas are those located along the Indo-Bangladesh international border in Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura and West Bengal.