Rajasthan Chief Secretary warns of action against illegal hookah bar operations

Jaipur, Feb 11 (IANS) Rajasthan Chief Secretary Sudhansh Pant said that hookah bars are completely banned in the state and strict action will be taken against illegally operated hookah bars and drug dealers.  

He directed the Police Department to take immediate action under the Rajasthan Hookah Bar Prohibition Act - 2019 to realise the resolution of Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma of making a drug-free state.

Pant was chairing the meeting of the State Level Committee of Narco Coordination Center Mechanism (NCORD) held at the Government Secretariat on Tuesday.

He directed that warning boards regarding illegal drug consumption should be installed outside bars, pubs, hotels, restaurants and liquor shops operating at various places and more and more people should be made aware through social media.

He said that to keep the young generation away from drugs, all the concerned departments and agencies including the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Police, Transport, Social Justice and Empowerment Department should work in coordination and crack down on drug mafias. For this, instructions have been given to hold regular task force meetings at the district level.

The Chief Secretary directed the Medical Department, Police and NCB to conduct a joint campaign and take strict action against medical stores selling ‘H’ category drugs, illegal medicines and narcotics illegally without medical consultation. He said that all the concerned departments and drug law enforcement agencies should work together towards making the state drug-free. He also directed the imposition of a complete ban on the smuggling of narcotics and chemicals used in their manufacture by imposing intensive blockades in the border districts.

Pant directed the officials of the Information and Public Relations Department and the Education Department to make the general public aware of the prevention of drug abuse through newspapers, various publicity and communication media and to get the students to take an e-pledge in all educational institutions to stay away from drug addiction. He also directed for effective monitoring of private de-addiction centres.

In the meeting, the Regional Director of NCB Ghanshyam Soni gave information to the Chief Secretary about the nature of their work, roots and syndicate through a presentation on the case study of the actions taken by the NCB against drugs based on the information received on the Manas portal.

In the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary of Home Department Anand Kumar, Administrative Secretary of Finance (Revenue) Department Kumar Pal Gautam, Additional Director General of Police VK Singh, Commissioner of Information and Public Relations Department Sunil Sharma, along with officials of various departments, Railway Protection Force were present while officials of the concerned drug law enforcement agencies joined through video conferencing.

--IANS

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