Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma drove a bulldozer over several hundreds of packets of seized drugs as part of the government's campaign to curb the use of narcotics and drugs. In a video shared by the news agency ANI, Mr Sarma can be seen driving the bulldozer with several people watching him at the site in Nagaon. Along with the video, the caption read, "Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma drives a bulldozer during a programme on 'Seized Drugs Disposal' in Nagaon." This move by the Chief Minister comes just a day after he had set fire to heaps of drugs at two locations in the state as part of the campaign.
In light of the state government's efforts to curb the menace of narcotics in the state, drugs worth Rs 170 crore were seized over the past couple of months. As part of the drive, drugs were destroyed at Diphu and Golaghat on Saturday while Nagaon and Hojai were chosen for the same on Sunday.
Sharing updates from Hajoi earlier today, Mr Sarma tweeted pictures of the burning of the drugs at the site. Along with the images, he wrote, "The last rites of drugs in Assam! In 'seized drugs disposal' program at Hojai today, 353.62 grams heroin, 736.73 kg ganja and 45,843 tablets have been destroyed," tagging the MLAs and officials who were present.
In the same tweet thread, Mr Sarma said that the Assam government had no tolerance for drug usage. He wrote, "Assam Govt has adopted zero tolerance policy against drugs and Assam Police have been asked to aggressively step up measures against the menace." He further added, "I appreciate state police's relentless campaign against drugs. We shall continue to work together against the scourge."
In a third tweet on the issue, he said that the sheer amount of drugs that the government destroyed in the last two days was indicative of the kind of money involved in the trade of narcotics. "...It involves evasion of GST & is a severe dent to economy. We're working in coordination with Manipur & Mizoram to eliminate drugs menace from North East India," he added in the tweet.
On the subject, the Chief Minister said on Saturday, “Since the day I've assumed office, 874 cases have been registered, 1,493 drugs dealers arrested and drugs worth Rs 163 crore have been seized."