Punjab’s narcotics control wing nears activation

After years of gathering dust, the body will now operate using staff and resources of the excise department.

LAHORE:

The Punjab government, after almost half a decade of gathering stagnancy, has finally decided to activate the narcotics control wing of the provincial excise and taxation department.

For the past five years since its inception, the government body had been gathering dust due to lack of necessary laws, inadequate manpower, and insufficient financial resources. Owing to which, the deputy inspector general of the narcotics control wing had been left to assume a purely ceremonial position, serving no actual function.

With the latest development, that has led to the wing’s activation, it is said that the excise department will soon be separated from taxation and merged with narcotics control. This will allow for the staff and resources currently deputed to the excise department to extend their operational capacity to the narcotics wing, thereby remedying the lack of manpower and resources that has long kept the body from setting in motion.

The excise secretary is expected to send a final recommendation to the government on the matter, in the coming days. In addition to that, a summary of the formation of a new region in the excise and taxation department— Lahore—has already been sent to the government and is awaiting approval.

According to the details, the excise and taxation department had established a separate narcotics control wing in 2017. The main function of the wing was to control the manufacture and sales of illegal drugs, especially in educational institutions to protect the province’s youths from it.

The same year, the department had sent a summary leading to creation of the new wing, while the government was recommended to separate the excise and narcotics control wing from the taxation department.

However, due to alleged interference and pressure from certain quarters, excise was not separated from taxation and only a few posts including DG and Director of Narcotics Wing were created, and Raja Zahid was appointed the first DG Narcotics Control. In five years, owing to the wing’s stagnancy, no new law has been enacted for narcotics control and no vacancies have been created, in addition to four police stations also not being able to begin operations per plan.

A few days ago, in a meeting chaired by Excise and Taxation Secretary Waqas Ali Mahmood, Punjab Excise and Taxation DG Rizwan Akram Sherwani reiterated his suggestion that the excise wing should be separated from taxation and merged into narcotics control. He further recommended that all resources available with the excise authorities should also be transferred to the narcotics control wing to aid its activation until the new laws are enacted, while in the meantime, the narcotics wing will be able to carry out operations under the Excise Act.

Per sources, the excise secretary has agreed to the proposal and is directed to prepare detailed recommendations in this regard which will be sent to the government for final approval. The excise system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh will also be referred to in the preparation of recommendations.

“If the recommendations are approved, the DG Taxation will be the head of its wing and will be responsible for the collection of all taxes including property tax, motor vehicle tax, cotton fee, luxury house tax. On the other hand, DG Excise and Narcotics Control would be responsible for controlling the manufacture, sale and purchase of illegal drugs, alcohol, and spirits in the province,” the source informed The Express Tribune on conditions of anonymity.

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