‘Curtailing drug abuse is SHOs’ responsibility’

Tribune News Service

Batala, July 12

Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner (DC) Gurlovleen Singh Sidhu on Thursday called a meeting of officials of the twin police districts of Gurdaspur and Batala and asked them to fan out in their respective areas to nip in the bud the drug problem.

Batala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Opinderjit Singh Ghuman and his Gurdaspur counterpart Harcharan Singh Bhullar attended the proceedings.

Sidhu said, “From now onwards, station house officers (SHOs) will be held responsible if any drug seller is found in their areas.” He also asked them to identify drug addicts and bring them to the government-run de-addiction centres in the Batala and Gurdaspur civil hospitals.

The Deputy Commissioner said that he was in the process of forming ‘Nasha Roko Nigran Committees.’

These committees will comprise of reputed citizens, SHOs concerned and officials of the health and police departments. “We launched the second phase of the Drug Abuse Prevention Officer campaign today. In this, the focus will be on creating awareness at the grass-root level against the use of drugs and also getting addicts rehabilitated. Debates and seminars will also be held in schools and colleges. NGOs have been asked to join the campaign. There will be zero tolerance against use of drugs. Facilities at rehabilitation centres are being upgraded,” said the DC.