Karnataka to set up coordination committees in border districts to curb drug menace: Home Minister
Bengaluru: Karnataka will set up coordination committees with the neighbouring states in the border districts to check the drug menace, State Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Monday.
Bommai also said action will be taken against foreign nationals involved in drug peddling and those overstaying here illegally will be arrested.
The External Affairs Ministry will be informed about those overstaying and urged to send them to their respective countries, he told reporters here.
Against the backdrop of the Narcotics Control Bureau of India's recent raid and arrest of three people with a huge cache of hard drugs, Bommai chaired a meeting with senior police officials to review the measures taken by them.
"There are border regions around Bengaluru. There is a Tamil Nadu border at Anekal and Andhra Pradesh border near Hoskote. There we will form coordination committees for the purpose of information gathering, sharing and initiating action," Bommai said.
Underlining the necessity to curb the cannabis menace in Karnataka, Bommai said ganja coming from other states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa has to be stopped completely for which directions will be given to the superintendents of police of border districts.
Speaking about the measures taken in Bengaluru, the Home Minister said since January 1,438 cases have been booked and 1,798 people have been arrested, including 25 foreign nationals.
According to him, it was decided in the meeting that action will be taken against the foreign nationals involved in drug peddling.
He said some foreign nationals are involved in the 'darknet' web of drugs and are also into peddling drugs. Some of them are overstaying here illegally despite expiry of Visa period. To check their activities, it was decided in the meeting that those foreign nationals whose visa has expired should be arrested immediately.
"All those who are overstaying should be arrested and sent back. We have decided to start a drive where we will share all the information with the Ministry of External Affairs about the overstaying foreigners to send them to their respective countries," he added.
Bommai said a decision was taken to launch an anti-drug awareness campaign in the colleges when they reopen after the lockdown. The police will coordinate with the college managements to check it.
Bommai has said four postal officials have been accused of involvement in a drug racket and a few foreign nationals arrested in this connection
The arrested include a Canadian and some Nigerians, he had said on Sunday.
Speaking about the darknet, an international racket of those involved in illegal businesses, Bommai said the police have managed to bust one or two such darknets, which operate through the internet.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
