In Punjab’s war against drugs, the State police department will collaborate with village panchayats and elected representatives in urban belts to identify the drug addicts.
The directions were given by the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal while presiding over a meeting on the issue on late Wednesday evening.Sukhbir asked the state Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini to order district police officers to tie with village panchayats to identify drug addicts so that they could be rehabilitated in a phased manner.Saini assured him that senior police officers had already undertaken village tours and were seized of the sociological side of the issue. “We will partner with village panchayats to de addict and even rehabilitate youth who have taken to drugs,” he said.
Sukhbir has asked the state Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal, who is heading empowered committee, to purchase requisite medicines, emphasising that there should be no paucity of major medicines and plenty of stock should be available at 141 Community Health Centers.He added that doctors should remain present at these CHCs to avert obstacles in de-addiction program.Deputy Chief Minister informed that major medicines would be stocked in warehouses at Kharar, Bathinda, and Verka, from where the supply will be made to all 141 CHCs.
HE also directed that both civil and police administration should send daily reports on the progress done in their respective areas to the state level team of ADGP law and Order Dinkar Gupta and Health Secretary Vinni Mahajan.