With heavy rainfall in the catchment areas continuing to swell the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, and Ujh rivers, the Punjab Police, along with teams from the Indian Army, Border Security Force (BSF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), have scaled up rescue and evacuation operations in the flood-affected districts of the state.
The affected districts include Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, Fazilka, and Ferozepur.
Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla, who is personally supervising the situation, said that SSPs of the flood-affected districts have been directed to remain in the field and monitor the situation regularly.
He informed that all arrangements are in place, with SSPs personally overseeing the relief work, and people are being shifted to safer locations. Recently, some stranded persons were rescued by helicopter in Pathankot.
The Special DGP added that the entire Punjab Police force has been placed on alert to deal with any kind of flood-related exigencies.
Meanwhile, Punjab Police teams continued their cordon-and-search operation (CASO) against drugs on Day 178, conducting raids at 381 locations on Tuesday. This led to the arrest of 78 drug smugglers after the registration of 53 first information reports (FIRs) across the state.
The raids resulted in the recovery of 630 grams of heroin, 71 kg of poppy husk, 659 intoxicant tablets and capsules, and ₹1,120 in drug money from the possession of the arrested smugglers.
Over 120 police teams, comprising more than 1,200 personnel under the supervision of 78 gazetted officers, carried out the raids and checked as many as 420 suspicious persons during the day-long operation.
The Special DGP further said that with the state government enforcing a three-pronged strategy — Enforcement, De-addiction, and Prevention (EDP) — to eradicate drugs, the Punjab Police, as part of the ‘De-addiction’ drive, persuaded 44 individuals to undergo de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment today.