New Delhi: The 3rd national conference of Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) heads of states and J&K concluded on Wednesday with states and J&K reaffirming their consensus to implement the “Vision Document” on Narcotics Control (2026–29).
Organised by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) under the theme “United Resolve, Shared Responsibility”, the two-day event brought together ANTF heads from 36 states and J&K along with stakeholders from various government departments.
Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the conference on September 22, stressing the need to deliver a decisive blow against narcotics. He described drugs as one of the most serious threats facing the country and the world, expressing determination to uproot the trade from India by December 31.
He said a “Drug-Free India” was essential for building a Viksit Bharat by 2047, protecting future generations and connecting youth with national development.
The conference featured technical sessions on institutional mechanisms to achieve the Vision Document’s targets, demand reduction, prevention and rehabilitation, and dismantling drug trafficking networks. Discussions highlighted the Vision Document’s four strategic pillars, with defined responsibilities, timelines, and monitoring mechanisms.
The session emphasised strengthening state ANTFs, outcome-oriented NCORD and JCC meetings, shifting from seizure-centric to network-centric enforcement, financial profiling, effective use of the PITNDPS Act, and focused prosecution of kingpins.
A dedicated session covered demand reduction measures, including the UGC’s “Nasha Mukt Campus Framework,” implementation of 500-metre Drug-Free Zones around educational institutions, expansion of the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, and strengthening of de-addiction centres.
The second day focused on coordination with INTERPOL and foreign agencies, the role of FIU-IND in financial investigations, digital databases such as NIDAAN, e-Sakshya, e-Prison and CCTNS, the use of Nar-K9 units, challenges related to precursors, synthetic drugs and clandestine laboratories, the Voluntary Code of Conduct for the chemical industry, destruction of illicit cultivation, alternative cropping, and emerging trends involving the darknet and cryptocurrency.
In his valedictory address, the Director General of NCB urged states and J&K to prepare state-specific three-year roadmaps aligned with the national Vision Document, while keeping local challenges in view. He called for a shift to a network-centric approach and stronger intelligence-sharing and inter-agency cooperation to detect, dismantle and destroy transnational, inter-state and intra-state drug networks.
On trafficking through railways, he said the Railway Protection Force has constituted a narcotics cell and that an MoU between the NCB and RPF is proposed to institutionalise capacity building, information exchange and joint operations.
(IANS)
