Sources said that in many cases, even after the accused were arrested, the accused were able to secure bail easily as recovered drugs were less than the minimum commercial quantity.

Talking to TNIE, Senior Superintendent of Police of Bathinda, Amneet Kondal said that the police has registered 23 cases under the NDPS Act in Maur Kalan village alone. The police arrested 43 persons since March 1, five people have been admitted to de-addiction centres while others have been sent to outpatient opioid assisted treatment (OOAT) centres.

"This village is one of the hot spots and we are taking action of all the hot spots indentified in the district as 338 cases registered and 484 person arrested from all the hot spots," she said.

As per the official figures with the Bathinda Police, since the 'Yudh Nashia Virudh' was launched on March 1, a total of 1,516 FIRs have been registered in 2025: 35 for commercial use and 1,481 for non-commercial use; 2,232 persons were arrested, 67 in commercial cases and 2,165 in non-commercial cases. A total of 56,503 kg heroin seized, 18,075 kg of opium, 2,048,294 kg of poppy husk, 20,793 kg of ganja, 1.43 lakh pills, 176 syrups, and Rs 32.19 lakh drug money seized.

Senior Congress leader and leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said, "This is the darkest indictment of Bhagwant Mann’s collapsing governance and Kejriwal’s hollow slogans. When people have to become whistleblowers on their own walls, it shows the state has abandoned them. Punjab did not vote for a government that lets its youth die. We deserve better."