Following the recent killing of anti-drug crusader Parvinder Jhota in Mansa by a chemist and the mounting concerns over the easy availability of habit-forming medicines in the state, the Punjab Police are seeking amendments to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, from the Centre to strengthen action against the illegal sale and misuse of pharmaceutical drugs.Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said this on the sidelines of the 67th Police Commemoration Day held at Punjab Armed Police grounds on Wednesday morning. “In our recent anti-drug meeting with the police and civil administration of the state, we had discussed at the length the problem of handling pharmaceutical drugs coming from outside the state and its high impact in south Malwa belt of Punjab. We need to address this issue on a war footing. We are demanding that even the police be given power to handle the cases which are so far vested with the Drug Inspectors. We want certain habit-forming drugs to be entered in the NDPS schedule. On our part, we have not just flagged the issue with the Centre but have also taken it up with the state heads of the police of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to jointly raise the issue with the Centre.”On the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah yesterday and the intervention of the CBI into the Jhota murder case, DGP Yadav said, “On our part, we had acted promptly by getting the FIR lodged and making four arrests. On the demand of the family, the Punjab Government decided to hand over the case to the CBI.” On the protests continuing in Mansa for a week, he said, “We respect the sentiments of the protesters. The state government has sent a team of its officials to handle the matter. Since I have not gone there, I cannot comment much.” Over the issue of forcible cremation of Gulzar Singh in Sangrur, Yadav said, “That matter is sub judice. We have submitted our report. I cannot comment.”Yadav said that the police were working hard to dig out evidences in a scientific matter regarding the killings of ASIs in the border areas of Punjab. “We have unearthed some modules and handlers. We have also established Pakistan link in some cases. The case involving the killing of ASI Gurnam Singh at Adhian Police Post in Gurdaspur has been worked out,” he said.He added that the police had achieved 90 per cent conviction rate in the NDPS cases with some of total 13,000 convicts being sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. He said that 60 per cent of the India’s heroin haul was from Punjab.