GUWAHATI: On ‘International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking’ observed on June 26 every year, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma honoured and rewarded a home guard, Borsing Bey, with an appointment as a constable in Assam Police for display of honesty when he refused bribe from drug dealers and seized a consignment of methamphetamine drugs valued at Rs 12 crore from a bus in Karbi Anglong.
“We all know how much salary home guards get, but despite utter needs, Borsing Bey displayed exemplary guts and honesty to refuse a huge amount of bribe from the drug dealers and went ahead to seize the drugs,” Sarma said at the Bey’s felicitation and appointment ceremony here on Saturday.
Bey said that he was getting a monthly salary of Rs 9,000 as a home guard.
“On June 21 when I was checking a bus I found the drugs concealed inside the engine compartment of the bus.
They (carriers) offered me a huge bribe, but I did not want to put a blot on my uniform and completely ignored the money on offer and seized the drugs.” He added, “If you do your duty honestly, you are bound to achieve your goals.” And, Bey did achieved his goal when the chief minister handed him over the appointment letter as a constable in Assam Police.
Bey had failed to pass the Assam Police recruitment tests thrice earlier but that did not deter him from failing in his duty.
Bey’s appointment as a regular constable in Assam Police was decided by the cabinet and the government decided to ceremonially hand over appointment letter to Bey with a view to send a positive message to the society.
Stating that the society has a moral duty to safeguard the younger generation from the menace of drugs, Sarma said that since coming to power, the present state government continued unrelenting fight against drugs dealers.
He also said that due to zero tolerance attitude adopted by the government, in last 45 days drugs worth Rs 135 crore were seized from different parts of the state.
The chief minister further said that Assam was earlier used as a transit route by drug dealers but in course of time a big market was gradually developing.
“That is why the Assam government has given top priority to weed out the menace of drugs from the state so that the new generation could be saved from its ill effects,” he said.
On Bey’s interception of the contraband item under Dilai police station, the three carriers—two women from Tamil Nadu (Lashmi D and Panjabhiram) and a man, Khoiram Basanta Singha, from Manipur were arrested under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).
The director general of police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta has also rewarded Bey with Rs 1 lakh for his selfless and courageous act.