Chandigarh July 12: Punjab Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh called on Mr Manohar Lal, Chief Minister Haryana here today with an offer to host the next meeting of Chief Minister’s of Northern States to make the region free from drug menace.
The meeting between Mr Manohar Lal and his Punjab Counterpart Capt. Amarinder Singh lasted about half-an-hour in a cordial atmosphere. Both the leaders resolved to take stringent measures to eliminate the drugs problem among youth and to free them from its clutches to give a bright future.
Chief Minister Mr Manohar Lal agreed to attend the next meeting to be organized by Punjab here on July 25, 2019 for evolving an effective mechanism to deal with this long standing problem.
Mr Manohar Lal informed Capt. Amarinder Singh that though the problem of drug is not as alarming in the State as it is in Punjab yet the present State Government has taken several steps for its prevention and also to make aware the youth about its ill effects. He said that with a view to chanellize the energy of youth in the right direction, as many as 1000 yog and vyamshalas have been set up in the State. Apart from this, ‘Raahgiri’ programmes are also organized on district headquarters at regular level to ensure active participation of people of all walks of life. This programme is not only a stress-buster for the people, but it also provides a good platform to the youth and artistes to showcase their talent. A grant of Rs 5 lakh is provided to the districts organising ‘Raahgiri’ programmes regularly, he added.
It may be recalled that on the initiative of Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, a regional conference of the Chief Ministers and Senior Officers of Six States was organised here on the issue of “Drug menace, challenges and strategies” in the month of August 2018. Besides, Chief Minister Mr Manohar Lal, the meeting was also attended by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Mr Trivendra Singh Rawat, Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh while their Himachal Pradesh counterpart Mr Jairam Thakur had joined them through video conferencing. Senior officials representing Rajasthan, Delhi and Chandigarh also participated.
During that meeting, the States and the Union Territory of Chandigarh had agreed to join hands to jointly tackle the drug menace in the country’s northern region. It was also agreed that there was a need for more proactive and quick information exchange on drug trends, cases registered and persons named, wanted or arrested. Apart from this, decision was also taken to set up a centralised secretariat at Panchkula where nodal officers from each State would be deputed for sharing intelligence and information.