Capt: Focus on education, health to root out drugs

Tribune News Service

Tarn Taran, May 17

Observing that inadequate education and health services are factors leading to unrest among youth, driving them towards drug addiction and other vices, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday said both sectors were on top of his agenda.

After launching the second phase of the Congress government’s drug abuse prevention officers’ (DAPO) programme here, he announced a 5 per cent cut in the budget allocated to other departments to raise additional revenue for education and health.

Citing figures, he claimed that there had been a whopping 126 per cent increase in the number of youth reporting for drug treatment at the OPDs, which testified the success of government’s initiative to wipe out the menace from the state.

As against 1.82 lakh youngsters who reported at OPDs in 2016, the number had gone up to 4.12 lakh in 2017. Similarly, as many as 5,107 youths were being treated at government rehabilitation centres and another 17,667 in private hospitals.

Reiterating his government’s zero tolerance towards drugs, the CM said anyone found involved in spreading the menace would not be spared. “While the STF was going all out to eliminate the scourge, it was the moral responsibility of every member of society to fight it,” he said.

Projects worth Rs 555 crore for Tarn Taran

Capt Amarinder announced a slew of development projects to the tune of Rs 555 crore for the uplift of the border district.

Nearly Rs 60 crore has been set aside for the development of 779 schools, Rs 44 crore for mandis, Rs 40 crore for health facilities, Rs 12 crore for government degree college in Khadoor Sahib, Rs 3 crore for nine smart schools, Rs 10 crore for buffalo research centre in Patti, Rs 9.25 crore for road from Assal Uttar to Khem Karan, Rs 7 crore for 50-bed mother and child healthcare wing at district hospital, Rs 150 crore for the road from Khem Karan to Chabal, Rs 125 crore for widening Harike-Khalra road and Rs 73 crore for repairing 312 link roads among others.