DGP-rank officer who devised anti-drug strategy awaits posting for 5 months

Chandigarh: Amid the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab govt's relentless war against drugs, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, who headed the first anti-drug Special Task Force (STF) in the state and was instrumental in introducing key measures to combat the problem of drugs, awaited posting nearly 5 months after he was repatriated to the parent cadre of Punjab in Sept last year from a central deputation with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), where he served as additional director general (ADG).A 1992-batch IPS officer of the Punjab cadre, special director general of police (DGP) Harpreet Singh Sidhu was appointed by the then chief minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, to head the anti-drug STF, which was formed shortly after Captain took over as chief minister of the then Congress-led govt in Punjab in March 2017. Captain especially got him for the task on premature repatriation from his central deputation with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which otherwise was to end in June 2018. Along with US-based drug therapist and consultant Dr Kanwar Ajit Singh Sidhu, Harpreet Sidhu introduced the Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) clinics to provide free, OPD-based treatment. The introduction of the therapy, which continues to be the cornerstone of the state's efforts to provide treatment to addicts even today, marked a shift from sole "abstinence" to a substitution strategy, where addicts are put on alternate medicine to wean them off drugs and substances like heroin. As anti-drug STF chief, Sidhu also came up with a comprehensive action against drug abuse (CADA) strategy, focusing on a 3-pronged strategy of enforcement, de-addiction and prevention (EDP). He introduced community initiatives like drug abuse prevention officers (DAPOs) and the ‘buddy' programme in educational institutes to prevent drug abuse among youth through peer pressure. Sidhu was removed as STF chief in 2018 and posted as special principal secretary to the chief minister amid differences with the then DGP, Suresh Arora. He was, however, back as STF chief in July 2019. Later, he also held charge as ADGP (Prisons) before going on central deputation with the ITBP in 2022 for 4 years. While his central deputation was to end in October 2026, Sidhu was prematurely repatriated to the parent cadre, Punjab, on his request in September last year, amid the appointment of 1993-batch IPS officer of the West Bengal cadre, Praveen Kumar, an IPS officer junior to Sidhu, as Director General (DG) of the ITBP. This is, meanwhile, not the first time that an IPS officer remains without posting in Punjab. Among such instances, 1997-batch IPS officer ADGP Naunihal Singh remained without posting for about 10 months before he was given a posting in Sept 2024. Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, the 2004-batch IPS officer who is currently serving as Amritsar commissioner of police, remained without posting for nearly two months before he got a new posting as IG (Provisioning) on Aug 2, 2024.