Haryana’s war on drugs: Focused action, social outreach turning the tide in districts bordering Punjab, say police

‘Calibrated shift to sustained enforcement’
“The cumulative effect was brutal. By 2023–24, Sirsa–Fatehabad were routinely cited as high-burden districts in Haryana’s anti-narcotics briefings, with dozens of overdose deaths every year and an entrenched ecosystem of street peddlers, cross-border suppliers and diversion from chemists’ shops. Against this background, the turnaround of late 2025 is significant because it comes not from a single raid or headline arrest, but from a calibrated shift to sustained, data-driven enforcement and parallel social outreach,” the officer added.

The first pillar of the turnaround in Sirsa, Dabwali and Fatehabad has been a deliberate escalation of “depth policing” against narcotics — more cases, more arrests, more seizures, and crucially, more network mapping instead of episodic action, the officer said. “In a focused 45-day window (16 October–30 November, 2025), officers in these three police districts registered 153 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, compared to 105 in the previous 45-day period, reflecting a conscious decision to push investigations down the supply chain rather than wait for routine recoveries.”

As many as 342 accused were arrested during that period, as against 257 in the preceding 45 days, indicating a sharp rise in operational tempo and deterrent presence on the ground. “Special attention was paid to ‘link peddlers’ — 160 such intermediaries were identified and 86 arrested in the campaign period, up from 68 in the earlier phase — demonstrating that police were now targeting the actual village-level distribution architecture instead of only end-users,” the officer stated.

Active disruption of supply lines
A second crucial factor behind the turnaround has been aggressive disruption of physical supply lines and channels. “During the 45-day campaign, the three districts seized over 1 kg of heroin, large quantities of poppy husk and ganja, and nearly 9,400 psychotropic tablets and capsules, while slightly higher heroin and synthetic drug seizures in the previous window signalled that traffickers were being forced into riskier movements and early interception,” the officer said.

“Haryana’s Food and Drugs Administration mounted surprise inspections on medical stores in Sirsa, initiating action against 20 chemists for illegal sale of psychotropic medicines, thus tightening a key leak point between legal and illegal markets,” the officer added.

Attachments of vehicles and premises under NDPS and allied laws have also been scaled up, he said, with 27 confiscation proceedings launched in the latest 45 days against 15 in the earlier period, sending a clear message that the economics of drug trafficking in border villages will be systematically dismantled.

Data with the police reveal that “1,138 drug-dependent persons were identified and guided for treatment in Sirsa, Dabwali and Fatehabad during the latest campaign period alone, compared to 763 in the preceding 45 days—an increase of 375 people moved away from overdose risk toward supervised detoxification and counselling.”

O P Singh, Director General of Police (DGP), Haryana, said, “We have deepened police action, targeting not just users but the entire drug supply network. This fight is about protecting security, health and society. Bringing addicts on the path of treatment and rehabilitation is our priority. Our goal is to transform Haryana’s passionate border districts into areas free from the scourge of drugs.”