Bhupen Goswami 

GUWAHATI : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday offered prayers at the famous Kamakhya Devi temple, one of the 51 Shakti Peethas in the Nilachal hills, on the last day of his three-day visit to Assam. He along with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Water Resources Minister Piyush Hazarika reached the temple from the state guest house. Shah and Sharma reached the sanctum sanctorum of the temple where they offered prayers in the presence of three priests. The home minister stayed inside for over 10 minutes and performed ‘parikrama’ of the temple after coming out. He was welcomed by senior priests and office-bearers of Kamakhya Devalaya at the temple.

The Union Home Minister greeted the devotees present at the temple and then left for the Assam Administrative Staff College, where he has addressed the 70th plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC).On the other hand, there was a major crackdown on drugs in the north-eastern states. Around 40,000 kg of drugs were destroyed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Drugs have been destroyed in Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland. The Home Minister saw the destruction of drugs from Guwahati online. Shah is on a three-day visit to Assam. He chaired a meeting with chief ministers, chief secretaries and director generals of police of all northeastern states on drug trafficking and national security in Assam.

Such action was taken after the meeting. Addressing a regional meeting on ‘Drug Trafficking and National Security’ with chief ministers and director generals of police of northeastern states in Guwahati, the Union Home Minister said, “This is the second time such a meeting has been held, the first meeting was held in Chandigarh, in which we considered Kashmir as New Delhi and made a strategy to fight against drug abuse.Amit Shah stressed that both Afghanistan and Myanmar (Burma) should be held responsible for supplying drugs to the entire world, which affects the north and northeast parts of India the most. The NCB, which functions under the Home Ministry, has been conducting a special drive to destroy the seized drugs since June 1. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Independence, the NCB had decided that 75,000 kg of narcotics would be destroyed by all the field units of the bureau during this 75-day special drive. “Around 40,000 kg of drugs were destroyed in the northeastern states in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In Guwahati, 11,000 kg of drugs were seized by the NCB, 8,000 kg in Assam, 4,000 kg in Arunachal Pradesh, 1,600 kg in Meghalaya, 398 kg in Nagaland, 1,900 kg in Manipur, 1,500 kg in Mizoram and 12,000 kg in Tripura.Speaking on the occasion, the Union Home Minister said that during the Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav, a target was set to destroy 75,000 kg of drugs, but so far more than 1.5 lakh kg of drugs have been destroyed, which is more than double the target. The central government has adopted a policy of zero tolerance to thwart every attempt by the ‘dirty money and organized mafia’ of drug, drug trafficking to harm the country’s economy and national security.