Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked the Centre to take effective steps to curb drug trafficking going on through Pakistan, Afghanistan and Rajasthan.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s recent remarks that 70 per cent of the youth in Punjab were drug addicts, Badal said drug addiction was a national problem caused by widespread unemployment, which could only be combated with the Centre’s intervention.

Most of the powers in this regard were confined in the Centre’s hands and if the federal system was strengthened and more powers were vested in the States the problem of drug addiction could be overcome, he said.

He said as the country’s frontiers are guarded by the BSF, the Centre is in a better position to rein in drug trafficking being carried out through Pakistan, Afghanistan and Rajasthan.

The drug trafficking takes place with the connivance of BSF personnel, he alleged.

“Poppy husk is grown in Rajasthan and trafficked to neighbouring Punjab, often with the connivance of BSF personnel,” Badal said and urged the Centre to take necessary steps to control the problem.

He also asked all political parties to come together on the issue of strengthening the federal structure, which would go a long way in tackling the menace.

Badal, who was here to sign an agreement with the Forest Research Institute here, said he was against FDI in multi-brand retail as it would harm the interest of small shopkeepers.

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