The North News
Chandigarh, August 4
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has declared that the state’s high-profile ‘War Against Drugs’ has entered its final phase, with newly formed village and city Defence Committees now at the heart of the campaign.
Speaking at a state-level gathering of committee members in Ludhiana, Mann said the drive, which began in February, had already dismantled the core of the drug supply chain. “We have broken the backbone of drug trafficking in Punjab,” he claimed, thanking citizens for what he described as “unprecedented public support”.
The Defence Committees, now being formally notified by Sub-Divisional Magistrates, are the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s latest grassroots measure to root out drug abuse and trafficking. Each village and ward-level unit will be staffed by 10 to 20 members including local councillors, retired military personnel, teachers, and officials with clean records. Members will be given official government ID cards and operate in coordination with local police and block officers.
“These committees will function like generals in our war,” Mann told the gathering. “They will ensure villages and wards are under 24/7 surveillance, and that no trafficker dares operate in their areas.”
In addition to enforcement, the committees will take on a public health and educational role—helping reintegrate recovering addicts and spreading awareness through street theatre, door-to-door outreach, and school campaigns. Villages that achieve 100% drug-free status will be officially recognised by the state.
More than 10,000 village-level meetings have already taken place, and several gram panchayats have passed resolutions declaring their areas drug-free. Mann credited this grassroots mobilisation as critical to the state’s progress and accused past governments of not only ignoring the issue but being complicit in it.
“Had previous governments curbed drug trafficking, we wouldn’t need defence committees today. They created this mess, and now we are forced to clean it,” he said, drawing a sharp distinction between his administration and what he described as “traditional parties”.
In a blistering political attack, Mann accused senior leaders from Congress, BJP, and Shiromani Akali Dal of supporting a former Akali minister currently jailed in Nabha on drug-related charges. He named Congress leaders Charanjit Singh Channi, Partap Singh Bajwa, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, BJP’s Captain Amarinder Singh, and MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, saying they “speak openly” in favour of the former minister.
“This exposes the collusion,” Mann said. “They covered up each other’s crimes when they were in power. Let them come clean—are they with the traffickers or against them?”
The Chief Minister also announced that after the monsoon, repair work will begin on 20,000 kilometres of link roads across Punjab. Calling these “the state’s economic arteries,” he framed the project as part of the AAP government’s broader agenda of pro-people governance. He cited achievements including the extension of canal water to tail-end farms, the creation of over 55,000 government jobs based on merit, and the closure of multiple toll plazas saving the public ₹64 lakh a day.
Health Minister Dr. Balbir Singh, Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Mundian, Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha, and Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav were among the dignitaries present during the distribution of official ID cards to Defence Committee members.
