Lead life full of bravery, not of drugs, Guv exhorts youngsters

Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Thursday exhorted the youth of Punjab to stay away from the scourge of drugs. He also led a 4-km ‘padyatra’ (foot march) from the Kartarpur corridor to a local school.

After taking the salute from a contingent of the Batala police, the Governor delivered his speech and led an impressive procession to the school. He also presided over an oath-taking ceremony on the school’s premises.

The Gurdaspur administration and the Batala police had made elaborate security arrangements to make sure no untoward incident took place. DIG (Border) Satinder Singh and SSP Suhail Qasim Mir supervised the security measures.

Kataria recalled his recent interaction with a woman during one of the village defence committee (VDC) meetings. “A middle-aged woman came to meet me during a VDC gathering. She told me her son was on heroin. Whatever money was saved by her after doing menial jobs was taken away by her son. She asked me to make sure drug peddlers in her village were put behind bars. I could see the pain and agony in her eyes. This one incident reflected how bad the problem was in Punjab,” he said.

He invoked the Sikh Gurus who, he said, were synonymous with bravery. He told the children, “Follow the footsteps of our Gurus. The sons of Guru Gobind Singh were martyred after they were bricked alive by the Mughals. See how brave the boys were. You should lead a life full of bravery and not a life full of drugs.”

The venue swarmed with CID personnel since morning. Senior BSF and Army officers, too, were present. The proceedings went off in a smooth manner, but for the fact that students had to stand for more than an hour before the Governor started his speech.

There were many who recalled how Kataria’s predecessor Banwarilal Purohit regularly visited the border areas to carry forward an anti-drug initiative. “He took meetings of bureaucrats and police officers in border towns and spoke about how drugs were destroying the lives of youngsters. However, not much came out of his initiatives. We hope the present drive does not turn out to be a hollow one,” said a government teacher. Devotees on their way to Pakistan to pay obeisance had to stand outside the ICP till the Governor finished his speech.