Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana met here on Friday to discuss

Chandigarh, July 12: The Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana met here on Friday to discuss greater coordination in the battle against drugs, and agreed to hold an inter-state meeting of all the northern states on July 25. The meeting will be hosted by Punjab, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said after meeting his Haryana counterpart ML Khattar at the latter’s office.

Besides Haryana and Punjab, the chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Delhi, as well as the Governor Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi Lieutenant Governor and Chandigarh Administrator are expected to join the second inter-state meeting on drugs, an official spokesperson said.

The first meeting was held in April last year and the northern states had then decided to set up a centralised secretariat at Panchkula (Haryana) with nodal officers from each stated to be deputed there for intelligence and information sharing. The states had also agreed on a more proactive campaign to fight drugs on a joint platform, with faster sharing of information on drug trends, cases registered and persons identified or arrested.

Captain Amarinder said after today’s meeting with Khattar that his government was committed to the total elimination of drugs, which were being smuggled into Punjab from across the borders, not just from Pakistan but also from within the country, especially Kashmir. He reiterated his government’s zero tolerance policy against drugs. Earlier, the Haryana Chief Minister welcomed Captain Amarinder and presented to him a copy of the Bhagvad Geeta and a memento.