The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Saturday responded to comments made by Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh criticising the pressure group’s president Roy Kupar Synrem for the manner in which the group is carrying out a drive against drugs.
“In a society there are two parts-one is whatever we do is illegally wrong in front of the law but in some instances the same thing which is wrong is morally right,” Synrem told reporters.
He said that his conscience will not allow to be a silent spectator to something which is wrong.
The president said that it is on this basis that the HYC has come forward to burn the drugs they seize and also apprehend the drug users and peddlers.
Synrem said that if they believe only in the law, as said by the Minister, he said that there are times one has to go illegal to protect the state and its people.
The HYC president also said if one has to trust only on those law enforcers, then the question arises why one in a year’s time the number of drug users rose by one lakh.
“What are the law enforcers doing? This is the question we have to ask those sitting on the seat of power,” he added.
Synrem added that if the law enforcers go by the law and as per the NDPS Act, then there would have been no need for the HYC to come forward to fight this menace.
“Why has the number of drug users increased from two lakh in 2023 to three lakh in 2024. This shows that those in power are not doing their job,” the HYC president said.
He also said that drugs can be easily smuggled into the state even as he stated that the region is near the golden triangle and as per the centre, Meghalaya has become a transit route not only for northeast but also into India.
Synrem said that this is so because the intelligence gathering of the police in the state is weak.
He said that the HYC wants the police to have a specialized team which will concentrate only on the issue of drugs.
According to Synrem Meghalaya is not only a transit route but has become a destination point for drugs.
The HYC also wants that the office of the Narcotics Control Bureau should be set up in Shillong apart from the one in Guwahati.
He also informed that the HYC on Saturday decided to go to the public to appeal before them to force the state government to implement their demands.
In the coming weeks, the HYC will visit the district headquarters starting from Umsning on October 25 and culminate in a rally on November 8 in Shillong.
Synrem also appealed to the public to come out in large numbers on November 8 to demand from the government to take action against drug menace.
The demands of the HYC include treatment & rehabilitation, free detoxification, OST and day-care centres in all vulnerable districts, establishing of fast track courts/special courts for cases under NDPS Act, investigation and prosecution of cases under NDPS Act, 1985, strengthening the drug supply reduction strategy and setting up of the office of Narcotics Control Bureau.
