Death penalty for drug peddling or smuggling said CM Amarinder Singh

The Punjab government has decided to recommend the death penalty for drug peddling or smuggling, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said today.

Singh said the recommendation was being forwarded to the Narendra Modi government.

"Since drug peddling is destroying entire generations, it deserves exemplary punishment. I stand by my commitment for a drug free Punjab," he wrote in a tweet.

Deaths caused by drug overdoses have caused a political slugfest in



Punjab.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), an opposition party, said the government had forgotten its pre-election promises, and wasn't serious about combating the smuggling, peddling and consumption of drugs.

Last month, a government spokesperson said a Special Task Force had successfully blocked trans-border and interstate-border drugs supply -- with 16,305 cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, and 18,800 people arrested since March 16, 2017.