Gandhinagar : The Gujarat government admitted in the Assembly on Thursday that liquor and drugs worth more than Rs 600 crore have been seized in the ‘prohibited’ and ‘dry state’ during the last two years.
The opposition Congress, however, created a ruckus during the ongoing Budget session of the 14th Assembly, on the issue of a major drug seizure amounting to Rs 21,000 crore from Kutch’s Mundra port, dismissing the state government’s reply.
Replying to a series of questions asked by the Congress’ legislators on the second day of the budget session, the Minister of State (Home) Harsh Sanghvi informed that the Gujarat government had seized liquor and drugs worth more than Rs 600 crore in the last two years.
The Gujarat police confiscated Rs 215.63 crore worth 1.06 crore bottles of indian made foreign liquor, Rs 4.34 crore worth 19.34 crore litres of country liquor, Rs 16.2 crore worth 12.20 lakh bottles and cans of beer, and Rs 370.25 crore worth narcotropic drugs consisting of hashish, ganja and charas in 2020 and 2021.
There was uproar by the Congress in the House over these figures tabled by the government, particularly the data of drugs seized from Kutch.
Raising a point of order on the figures tabled in the House pertaining to a question on drugs seized from Kutch district, Punja Vansh, the Congress legislator from Una, pointed out that the government was deliberately trying to hide the drugs seized from the Adani Mundra port estimated to be around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore in the international drugs market.
“Why is the Gujarat government shying away from the Mundra port drugs seizure? The crime committed has been registered in Gujarat by the state police and has been obliterated from the written answer in the Assembly,” Vansh asked.
“The House has the right to know the truth. The Gujarat government has committed the sin of hiding the truth. Why are you not admitting it on record about the drugs seized from the Mundra Port,” said the former Leader of the Opposition Party (LoP), Paresh Dhanani.
There was an uproar by the BJP over the words ‘committed sin’ made by the Congress. Former Home Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja asked for the withdrawal of these words and sought an apology from the Congress legislator. The BJP started shouting, demanding an apology from the former LoP.
–IANS