New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) Challans of close to Rs 7 lakh were issued and over thousand litres of acid was seized in the national capital in the last 10 days under a special drive against acid attacks directed by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev.
In a statement issued on Monday, the government said that a special meeting was held on August 22 headed by the Chief Secretary to discuss various issues regarding acid attacks in the city.
"In the meeting, the Chief Secretary expressed concern over the incidents of acid attacks and directed all departments to work towards checking the sale of acid and rehabilitating acid attack survivors," it said.
The meeting was also attended by Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal, secretaries of several departments, and representatives of Delhi Police, among others.
In the meeting, Dev directed the Divisional Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Revenue) to immediately constitute a joint team of area sub-divisional magistrate (SDMs), DCW representatives and Delhi Police personnel.
"The Chief Secretary issued instructions that these joint teams will conduct daily raids and any place found to be selling or not maintaining proper records shall be booked on the spot both by the SDM and the Delhi Police."
The DCW was asked to collect local intelligence through its network of women and identify the shops that were selling acid which could then be raided, the statement added.
"The Chief Secretary had stated that this would be a 10-day special drive of the Delhi government and similar drives will be conducted on a regular basis."
In the past 10 days, the joint teams of SDM, DCW and Delhi Police have conducted over 100 raids and issued challans of over Rs 7 lakh, the statement said.
"The teams also seized over 1,000 litres of concentrated acid by posing as decoy customers."
The government said that in one of the visits, the team seized over 240 litres from one small shop in Narela.
"The acid was being sold openly and the shopkeeper even prodded the team to buy larger amounts. In another raid, over 250 litres were seized by the team in Najafgarh sub-division area. Here too, the acid was being sold without any deterrence.
"In almost all shops, no records of acid stored in the shops were maintained which is in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines and orders of the Delhi government. The raids were conducted all over Delhi in over 24 sub-divisions," the government said.
Dev said he was deeply disturbed with the prevalence of acid attacks in Delhi.
"I believe an acid attack is one of the most painful trauma that a human being can go through. We are strictly against the open sale of acid and shall take all measures to stop it. I have directed all SDMs and police officials to practice zero tolerance against the open sale of acid. We will leave no stone unturned for achieving an acid free Delhi," he said.
Maliwal applauded the Chief Secretary for taking this initiative.
"Illegal sale of acid and more importantly easy availability of concentrated acid in the open market is a serious issue affecting Delhi. Several acid attacks could have been prevented had there been a stringent check on sale of acid," she said.
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