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Chandigarh, Feb. 2 (PTI): A day after Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit called the menace of illegal drugs a major concern for the state, former chief minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday said he had flagged from time to time the issue of delivery of weapons and drugs from Pakistan via drones and the serious implications it poses.
The governor has said drugs have permeated into schools too and asked the Bhagwant Mann government to seek the Centre's help if they need it to check the menace.
Asked to comment on the governor's remarks, senior BJP leader Singh said, "During my time when I was the chief minister, I used to say one drone used to come every three days, but nowadays three drones come every day (from across the border). They drop weapons, counterfeit currency, drugs, so it is not a good situation."
"And these weapons, drugs, counterfeit currency, they are going to somebody and these are going to those people whom Pakistan wants these should go, and that means rise of militancy," Singh, a veteran Congressman who had joined the BJP months after his unceremonious exit as the chief minister in September 2021, told reporters at the Haryana Bhawan here.
He said that during his tenure as the chief minister, he had brought it to the notice of the prime minister and the home minister and told them "we will have to deal with it strictly".
Asked to comment on reports that he may replace the incumbent Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Singh said, "There is no information that I have. Nobody has contacted me, I know nothing about it."
"Only through the media, I am coming to know such things. Earlier, you (the media) sent me to five places including Himachal, Bihar.... Secondly, I have made it absolutely clear to the prime minister that I am at his disposal for whatever he thinks right. Wherever he wishes me to go in whichever capacity, I am very happy to go," he said.
Singh had a courtesy meeting with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who addressed a press conference at the venue this evening.