Agartala (Tripura) [India] December 21 (ANI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday called upon the Chief Ministers, Governors and people of the northeast to spare no effort to make the region drug and addiction-free within the "shortest possible time."

Addressing the 72nd Plenary of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in Agartala, he said the larger target is to make "entire India drug-free."

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"During the past few years, this region has emerged as a major corridor and consumption centre of highly addictive and contraband drugs. A lot of work has been done in the last six years, but our speed is not enough. I request the chief ministers, governors and people of the northeast to spare no effort to make the region drug-free. We must all try together to get rid of this sin; the entire Northeast has to be drug and addiction-free within the shortest possible time. The larger target is to make the entire India drug-free," Shah said

He further asserted that the time has come that every citizen of the Northeast should also get the rights given in the Constitution.

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"We have been associated with terrorism and non-violence for years, so the goal of the police of all the states was to get rid of violence, that work is almost complete now. Now the time has come that every citizen of the Northeast should also get the rights given in the Constitution, the right to protect his property, the right to protect his honor and the right to protect his family, which are in these three new criminal laws. Now our focus should be on giving citizens their rights instead of confronting the extremists and the Home Ministry of all the states will have to focus on this. For this, the approach, training and focus of the police of every state of the Northeast needs to be changed. But the pre-condition for this is that the three new criminal laws should be fully implemented in the states of the Northeast," Shah said.

He further said that the government has adopted a multi-pronged approach in the field of security.

"We have made progress in the last 10 years by making a specific strategy for every state and the result is that the police, army, Assam Rifles and Central Reserve Police Force together have succeeded in creating a very good system here, due to which violent incidents have decreased by 31 per cent and civilian deaths have decreased by 86 per cent in the last 10 years. About 10,574 militants have surrendered and many agreements have been signed," said Shah, who chaired the 72nd Plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC).

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha announced the commencement of the session via a post on X. The session is being held at Pragna Bhavan in Agartala.

"The 72nd Plenary of NEC chaired by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, begins at Pragna Bhavan, Agartala. In the presence of Union Minister for DoNER JM Scindia & Union MoS for DoNER Sukanta, Governors, HCMs and high officials, joined the important NEC Meet that aims to discuss various matters including growth and prosperity of the NE region," CM Saha's X post read.

This is the second time when Agartala has hosted the plenary since 2008 underscoring the city's growth in the regional development discussions. (ANI)

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