Himachal govt to bring stringent Bill against 'chitta' smuggling Deputy CM

Shimla, Mar 22 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh government will bring a Bill with stringent provisions to curb 'chitta' trade in the state, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri told the assembly on Saturday and added that the drug menace will have to be fought on a war footing.
     Replying to a discussion on a Private Member resolution moved by Congress's Kewal Singh Pathania urging a policy to eradicate 'chitta' (adulterated heroine).
     He said the PIT-NDPS Act has already been enforced in the state and any person suspected to be involved in 'chitta' trade would be detained for six months.
     Slamming the opposition for the opposition's "Rengta Himachal" slogan, the deputy CM said the steps taken by the government are "unprecedented".
     Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu recently told the assembly that consumption of ‘chitta’ has been reduced by 30 per cent in the past three years.
     Leader of the opposition Jai Ram Thakur referred to the drug menace in the state as ‘rengta (crawling) Himachal’, a play on ‘Udta Punjab’, a film on the drug problem in Punjab.
     Moving the resolution on eradicating 'chitta' trade, Pathania called for 'zero tolerance" on the matter and opposed the posting of employees in border areas for a long time. More funds should be provided for sports activities to attract youth, he stressed.
     BJP's Trilok Jamwal said that the steps taken on the 'chitta' menace are inadequate and also registered his opposition to the cultivation of cannabis.
     Dilip Thakur of the BJP demanded the confiscation of 'chitta' traders's properties.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)