Challans of close to Rs 7 lakh were issued & 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 govt said that a special meeting was held on Aug 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 & directed all departments to work towards checking the sale of acid & rehabilitating acid attack survivors," it said.

The meeting was also attended by Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal, secretaries of several departments, & representatives of Delhi Police (DP), 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), Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) representatives & Delhi Police personnel.

"The chief secretary issued instructions that these joint teams will conduct daily raids & any place found to be selling or not maintaining proper records shall be booked on the spot both by the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) & the Delhi Police."

The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) was asked to collect local intelligence through its network of women & 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 govt & similar drives will be conducted on a regular basis."

In the past 10 days, the joint teams of sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) & Delhi Police have conducted over 100 raids & 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 govt 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 & 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 SC guidelines & orders of the Delhi govt. The raids were conducted all over Delhi in over 24 sub-divisions," the govt 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 & shall take all measures to stop it. I have directed all sub-divisional magistrate (SDM)s & 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 & 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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