In Punjab, India’s agricultural heartland long plagued by a growing narcotics crisis, a decisive battle is being drawn against drug trafficking. On Tuesday, in a sweeping move emblematic of the state’s intensified crackdown, Punjab’s Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav issued a high-stakes ultimatum: all district police heads must ensure drugs vanish from the streets by May 31 — or face disciplinary consequences that could reach down to the Station House Officer (SHO) level.
Chaired from the police headquarters in Chandigarh, the high-level review meeting brought together senior officers, including Special DGP (Internal Security) R.N. Dhoke and top brass from the state’s Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF). The urgency of the moment was unmistakable. For a state that has wrestled for years with the scars of addiction and a well-entrenched drug mafia, this meeting marked a pivotal moment in Punjab’s ongoing campaign dubbed “Yudh Nashian Virudh” (War Against Drugs).
The campaign, now in its third month, has already netted close to 8,000 drug-related arrests. Thousands of kilograms of narcotics — including heroin, opium, and synthetic pills — have been seized. But Yadav made it clear that the focus moving forward will be less about numbers and more about lasting impact: dismantling the supply networks, disrupting cartels, and bringing top operatives — the so-called “big fish” — to justice.
“We are not chasing figures,” Yadav emphasized. “Our mission is to make drugs unavailable in Punjab — to destroy their circulation on the street level by attacking their entire ecosystem.”
For observers both within and beyond India, the urgency surrounding Punjab’s drug crisis may come as no surprise. The state, known for its lush wheat and paddy fields, has for over a decade grappled with one of the most serious drug epidemics in South Asia. A 2015 government study found that more than 860,000 people in the state were dependent on drugs, with synthetic opioids and heroin topping the list. The problem has seeped deep into rural communities, prison populations, and even security forces.
In this latest push, DGP Yadav has made accountability the cornerstone of the campaign. From city commissioners to rural police chiefs, every officer will be evaluated on the effectiveness of their strategy and operations — not only by crime data but also through public feedback and intelligence inputs. Officers who perform well will be rewarded; those who fall short will be held accountable.
During the marathon three-hour review session, police leaders presented granular plans to eradicate drugs from their respective jurisdictions. Field officers also exchanged best practices on deploying advanced surveillance tools, tracking digital footprints, and leveraging human intelligence to catch traffickers who increasingly rely on burner phones, encrypted messages, and multi-tiered networks to evade detection.
The police have zeroed in on 755 so-called “hotspots” — areas where drug availability and usage are chronically high. These vulnerable zones are being subjected to repeated and targeted operations, often carried out without warning, in order to choke off access to supply chains.
But this fight is not being waged by the police alone. Yadav underscored the importance of inter-departmental collaboration, with health and education ministries now deeply involved in both preventive and rehabilitative efforts. More de-addiction centers are being opened across the state, and awareness campaigns in schools and colleges are helping steer youth away from addiction pathways.
Perhaps the most community-driven aspect of the strategy is the Safe Punjab Anti-Drug Helpline, a confidential hotline allowing citizens to anonymously report traffickers. Operatives working the helpline process tips daily — each one monitored at the highest levels of state government. According to Yadav, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann himself reviews its progress regularly, a sign of the political will backing the operation.
Still, experts caution that deadlines in such deeply rooted social crises can be double-edged swords. While they instill urgency, they also risk superficial compliance — where focus on optics might override long-term rehabilitation and structural reform. But Yadav appears conscious of this balance. The emphasis, he said, is not on arbitrary seizures or inflated arrest records, but on what he described as “breaking the back” of the drug economy in Punjab.
The numbers since March 1 reflect both the scale of the crisis and the state’s determination: 4,930 FIRs filed under India’s Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 7,889 smugglers arrested, 325 kilograms of heroin seized, along with tens of lakhs of pharmaceutical pills, poppy husk, ganja, and over ₹8 crore (approximately $960,000) in illicit cash recovered.
As the May 31 deadline approaches, pressure is mounting on law enforcement to deliver not just seizures but a sense of transformation. In a region where generations have been lost to addiction, where families have buried sons and futures have been blunted, the promise of a drug-free Punjab is both a moral and social imperative.
Whether this zero-tolerance drive achieves enduring results remains to be seen. But for now, the message from Punjab’s top cop is clear — the state is done negotiating with narco-networks. “Zero on the streets,” Yadav said. “Zero in tolerance.”
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