Centre launches Unified Portal of Central Bureau of Narcotics

New Delhi [India], April 11 : Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra on Tuesday launched the Unified Portal of the Central Bureau of Narcotics, which will instil efficiency and transparency and reduce the time taken by the pharma industry to get a trade licence.

Additional Secretary (Revenue) Vivek Aggarwal, Narcotics Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Bouddh, l Ramteke, Chief Controller of Factories, Vinod Kumar, Director (NC) and representative stakeholders from the pharma industries, were present.

The Central Bureau of Narcotics has taken measures to strengthen the vision of Digital India in the period of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' by developing and unleashing the unified portal as one step solution for the user industry to facilitate the licensing and ExIM authorizations issued by the Bureau.

The unified portal of the Central Bureau of Narcotics will instil efficiency, transparency and accountability in department users with the twin objective of to cater the need of the pharma and chemical industry for synergistic growth of the drugs & pharma sector and boosting economy for "Aatma Nirbhar Bharat" and ensure availability of the "essential narcotic drugs" and medicines to the patients & their attendant families.

The launch of the Unified portal of the Central Bureau of Narcotics will prove as a stepping stone in the ease of doing business with NDPS and Controlled substances in the country with transparent and better compliance.

This portal is calibrated to have database integration & ingestion with other government services including Bharat Kosh, GST, PAN- NSDL validation, e-Sanchit, and UIDAI facilitating single point services for obtaining the licenses from CBN.

"The exporter, importer, and manufacturer of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, and Controlled Substances are expected to be benefitted in a manner and ecosystem which supports and harbours user-friendly, secure transactions, cloud-based storage, simplified process for applicants to obtain various licenses such as Import Certificates, Export Authorizations, No Objection Certificate for various NDPS and controlled substances, manufacturing licenses, Quota Allocation of Narcotic Drugs in smooth, hassle-free and transparent operations," the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

"It is imperative to note that all the operations are envisaged to be faceless & contactless. The applicants may file applications from anywhere & anytime on a round-the-clock basis eliminating the need for physical interaction and can raise queries with the department which shall be responded to through the portal. This will leverage a drastic reduction in 'processing time' and conserve the resources of the trade for other fruitful business activities," it added.

Central Bureau of Narcotics is a central government orgzation dealing with the international trade of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, and Precursor Chemicals under the ambit of various United Nations Conventions and the provisions of the NDPS Act, 1985. These substances bear dual potential as strong medicinal, scientific, and industrial use as well as a diversion for illicit use creating the substances for abuse.

"Therefore, there is a need for striking a fine balance between the availability of these substances to the people and maintaining compliance with the law in this regard. These challenges envisioned the Bureau to conceptualize the use of a Digital platform as an effective tool to synergize and sustain a balance between facilitation and compliance management," the statement read further.