Guwahati: Maintaining zero-tolerance toward criminals in Assam has been a big pledge of the Himanta Biswa Sarma government.
Assam’s human development score had long suffered due to the high rate of crime — especially crimes against women which were the highest in Assam before CM Sarma took charge.
10 months into office, CM Sarma announced that Assam’s crime rate has gone down by 39%. The journey has not been free of controversies with critiques questioning Assam Police’ alleged trigger-happy approach while dealing with criminals.
However, the Chief Minister was in no mood to relent stating that a society cannot defend rapists, murderers, and drug peddlers who ruin families. CM Sarma’s zero-tolerance approach also got widespread support from the people of the state.
It may be mentioned here that CM Sarma’s approach to tackling crimes and illegalities stood out due to the swiftness and decisive manner in which things were carried out.
From forming an Assam Rhino Protection task force in Kaziranga National Park to take on poachers to freeing forest and government land from encroachers, CM Sarma set a new example.
Despite criticism from a few quarters, CM Sarma knew all along what he wanted to achieve.
Soon after taking charge Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma declared a decisive war on drugs. Firm on not allowing the drug menace to ruin families, CM Sarma gave Assam Police a free hand to deal with the situation.
However, it was no mean task as Assam served as a transit route for contraband items sourced from Myanmar via Manipur.
Not only this, the well-oiled drug mafia machinery had become too strong over the years and needed an iron-hand approach to be dealt with.
The massive push ensured that Assam Police seized narcotics worth a whopping Rs 512 crore till April 2022 besides arresting as many as 4560 persons in connection with the drug trade.
