SAS Nagar, May 03: Punjab Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Balbir Singh said that Punjab Government to launch village and ward wise Nasha Mukti Yatra from May 7 to make 'Yudh Nasheya Virudh' campaign a mass movement by soliciting their cooperation to shun the curse of drugs from the sacred land of Punjab.
Chairing a district level mass meeting of Village/Ward Defence Committees (Panchayats and Councillors) at Grand Romania, Mohali, the Health Minister said the Punjab Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann has waged a war against drugs by working on a two pronged strategy, one part is enforcement through tightening the noose around the drug smugglers and another part is to treat the addicts, imparting skill training during rehabilitation and providing jobs/loans for making them self sustained to earn bread.
He said that the Punjab Police is doing well by recovering huge quantity of contrabands with the arrest of drug traffickers while the Health and Family Welfare Department is doing to enhance bed capacity at Nasha Mukti Kendras of Punjab. He said that the state has multiplied the existing capacity three fold and now we have 5000 beds for treatment of addicts. Similarly, in collaboration with NGOs, skill training centres have also been introduced in rehab centres.
Health Minister said that the motive of these meetings is to sensitizing about the Nasha Mukti Yatra campaign, mobilization of village-level leadership for community vigilance, strengthening coordination between VDCs/WDCs and the District Administration and reinforcing a collective stand against drugs at the village level. He appealed to the members of VDCs and WDCs to assist the police and district administration to cope up with the menace of drugs and extending helping hand to the victims of drugs. Similarly, the offenders would not be cooperated even in getting bails from the NDPS cases.
Addressing the gathering, S. Malwinder Singh Kang, Member, Lok Sabha, Sri Anandpur Sahib said that the land and history of Punjab witnessed that Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji raised his voice against the atrocities of Babar, the brave heart heroes of Punjab fought against the Mughals and Abdali, after that, the Punjabis extended extraordinary contribution to the struggle of freedom of India, then how can it be that the people of Punjab do not fight against drug smugglers, he told the people of village panchayats and wards that if anyone sells drugs in their vicinity, then a complaint should be made against them with the police immediately and the name and address of the complainant will be kept confidential. The Punjab government is committed to making Punjab-Rangla, this can be possible only if the people also support the government in its' fight against drugs.
DC Komal Mittal while addressing the VDCs and WDCs said that these committees can play a pivotal role in curbing drugs and helping them getting de-addicted by contacting the local police and administration. She said that in case they found any problem in redressing their complaints against the drug smugglers, they can contact DC Office.
SSP Deepak Pareek while assuring the VDCs and WDCs of fulsome support from Police Side, said that no reccommendation should be given to save the culprits of humanity and they should also hesitate from submitting any gurantee in courts to helping them releasing out.
A pledge was also administered to the attendees by the Health Minister on this occassion to not to help the culprits besides assisting the victims to come out of the menace of drugs for a better future.
Chairperson of the District Planning Committee, Prabhjot Kaur, Dr Sunny Singh Ahluwalia, Chairman Punjab water supply and Sewerage Borad, Chairman Milkfed Narinder Singh Shergill, Chairman Market Committee, Mohali, Gobinder Mittal, Deputy Mayor Patiala and Malwa Zone Coordinator Yudh Nasheya Virudh, Jagdeep Singh Jagga, ADC (Rural Development) Sonam Chaudhary, SDM Mohali, Damandeep Kaur, SDM Kharar Gurmander Singh, SDM Derabassi Amit Gupta and Civil Surgeon Sangita Jain were also present.