Amarinder calls cabinet meeting on drugs issue
Chandigarh, June 30: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has convened a cabinet meeting on Monday to review the progress of the investigations and discuss ways and means of countering the menace, an official said on Saturday.
Amarinder's 15-month old government has been under attack from the opposition for having failed to wipe out drugs from Punjab.
Amarinder, who had before the assembly polls in February last year vowed that he would eradicate drugs from the state within four weeks of coming to power, claims that his government has cracked down on drugs.
"The Chief Minister had called for the meeting to discuss the issue, particularly in the context of the recent spate of drug related deaths in the state," an official spokesperson said here on Saturday.
Thirty-three deaths have been reported in the state in the month of June due to drugs abuse and drugs overdose.
Expressing concern over the spurt of such deaths and drug cases, the Chief Minister has also asked senior police officers to be present at the meeting, scheduled to be held in Chandigarh, the spokesperson said.
"The Chief Minister has expressed the desire for collaborative efforts by all government functionaries as well as the citizens of the state to completely wipe out the drug menace and make Punjab a drug-free state, as promised by him before the 2017 assembly elections," the spokesperson said.
The Opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have accused the Amarinder government of doing nothing to contain the drugs racket in the state.
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Dissanayake on way to become Sri Lankan President, postal voting results suggest
Colombo (PTI): National People's Power (NPP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake seems set to become Sri Lanka’s ninth executive president on Sunday with an impressive show in the presidential election, according to postal voting results of seven electoral districts.
The polling took place on Saturday from 7 am to 4 pm local time at over 13,400 polling stations in 22 electoral districts.
The 56-year-old leader had taken an unassailable lead over his rivals, the main Opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, 57, and the incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75.
According to results declared in postal voting of seven of the 22 electoral districts, the NPP leader has gained 56 per cent of the votes, with his rivals trail him by grabbing 19 per cent each.
According to the trend shown in postal voting results, analysts say Dissanayake is likely to win the presidency by 50 per cent plus votes.
This comes after predictions that a second preference vote count might be needed to determine the winner among the three front runners.
The election, dubbed a three-cornered contest between Wickremesinghe, Dissanayake, and Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), shows signs of being a landslide for Dissanayake, who would become Sri Lanka’s first ever Marxist head of state.
