Northern States to Fight Drug Menace Jointly | 21 Aug 2018

In a bid to fight the drug menace, the four northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have decided unanimously to share drug trade related information and set up a common secretariat in Panchkula. The move would help in checking illegal drugs and powerful cartels .

Key Facts

• Nodal officers will be deputed by each state to coordinate the sharing process and regular meetings will be held at various levels to tackle the problem and monitor the progress of the anti-drug fight.The states will launch a major awareness campaign in their schools, and engage youth in sports and other activities at village levels.
• Moreover ,Skill development of youth will be undertaken on a major scale to generate employment opportunities.
• SSPs of the adjoining districts of the states to coordinate their anti-drug actions on a day to day basis.
• It was also decided to invite the states of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir in its future meetings.

Other Details

• To prevent young children from falling prey to drug addiction, the states decided to undertake concerted efforts at engagement and awareness generation by various departments including those of education, health, skill development along with non-governments and community organisations.
• The states also agreed to invest more resources in setting up more de-addiction centres and strengthening the existing ones whether in the public or private sector.
• They also agreed to strengthen the work at the grassroots through use of all possible technologies to make more villages, mohallas and cities drugs free.
• Furthur, the Regional conference also decided to create awareness through various social media platforms.