Chandigarh, Jul 26 (PTI) A day after finding irregularities in the conduct of dope tests for the issuance of arms licences, the Vigilance Bureau in Punjab on Wednesday recommended several steps to ensure no certificates are issued to ineligible people to prevent the misuse of weapons.

A dope test is mandatory for people who want either a new arms licence or renew an existing one. The test aims to check the presence of psychoactive drugs in biological specimens.

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The bureau on Tuesday conducted surprise checks at government hospitals across the state for irregularities in conducting dope tests for the issuance of arms licences and found some irregularities in the process, a bureau spokesperson said.

Among the irregularities found was photographs of candidates not being affixed on the dope test register. Even the test report was handed to the people concerned manually, in violation of the rules, the official said.

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According to the spokesperson, the bureau will write to the higher authorities, recommending a slew of steps, to make the mechanism more robust to uphold its sanctity.

The bureau suggested that a copy of the test report must be maintained in hospital records and doctors and technicians should be deployed on rotation to prevent interventions by agents.

The daily dope test register should also be checked and countersigned by senior officials on a regular basis, it suggested.

Frisking should be done outside the toilet before a person is sent to collect their urine sample. The frisking process should also be videographed, it added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)