Hoshiarpur- Deputy Commissioner Ashika Jain, while interacting with the officers of various departments here today, stressed the need to make maximum people aware for drug prevention, take concrete steps for rehabilitation of drug addicts and run a public campaign against drug abuse.
While reviewing the efforts being made in the district under the Punjab Government's 'War against Drugs' campaign and Narco Coordination (ENCORD) during a meeting with the officers at the local District Administrative Complex, the Deputy Commissioner said that more effective steps should be taken against drug abuse at various levels. She said that people should be made aware to get the drug addicts admitted to the District De-addiction and Rehabilitation Centre and other centres and get them treated.
She said that under the campaign against drug abuse, these efforts should be made a public campaign with the cooperation of various organisations in villages and cities. Deputy Commissioner Ashika Jain, while taking information about the De-addiction Centre from the officials of the Health Department, said that there is a proposal to increase the capacity of the centre at various levels and it will be implemented soon.
He informed that the district administration is also making efforts to provide suitable employment opportunities to the youth taking skill development classes at the center. He informed that apart from the arrangement of exercise and gym to make the youth admitted in de-addiction centers completely healthy, the district administration is also starting yoga classes, so that these youth can become completely healthy.
Taking information about the action taken in the last few days from the police department, the Deputy Commissioner was told that during the last 3 weeks, 98 cases of NDPS were registered by the district police and 121 accused were arrested. Similarly, 394 grams of heroin, 2 kg 306 grams of opium, 2 kg 472 grams of narcotic powder, 4933 narcotic capsules/tablets and Rs 20200 drug money were seized.
The Deputy Commissioner also stressed on the need for joint investigation against the sale of narcotics by the Health and Police Department. The Deputy Commissioner urged the concerned departments to make concrete efforts at their own level to prevent drug abuse so that the young generation can be saved from this curse and their immense energy can be channelized in the right direction. Apart from Additional Deputy Commissioner Nikas Kumar, officers from various departments were also present on this occasion.