Training for drug law officers by UN body

BQ: Need to bring awareness: Guv

“Strict laws have been made and governments are also working seriously but there is need to generate awareness about this social evil through the participation of voluntary organisations and common people,” Bandaru Dattatreya, governor

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 22

Governor Bandaru Dattatreya today inaugurated a two-day interactive capacity building initiative programme for training drug law enforcement officers of the departments of HP Police and state excise on a virtual platform from Raj Bhawan here.

The programme is being organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Regional Office for South Asia, New Delhi.

“Himachal and its neighbouring states are grappling with a serious drug problem and youths are rapidly indulging in drug habits. Strict laws have been made and governments are also working seriously but there is need to generate awareness about this social evil through the participation of voluntary organisations and common people,” said the Governor.

He said that while fulfilling its “Vision Document, 2017”, the state government had accepted the multi-dimensional challenge of the problem. He added that in response to the prevalent drug situation, the government constituted the first-ever institutional mechanism in the country in the form of the HP Nasha Nivaran Board headed by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

He said that the board had taken several initiatives by way of effective coordination and monitoring of the performance of various line agencies. The Governor expressed satisfaction that the state was doing well in terms of the detection of drug-related crimes and affecting seizure of heavy quantities of drugs, besides generating mass awareness and establishing drug treatment and rehabilitation facilities in the state. He hoped that the officers concerned would take the full professional advantage of the knowledge sharing being imparted by widely experienced faculty associated with the UNODC.

Sergey Kapinos, regional representative of UNODC, South Asia, said the UNODC was mandated to assist member nations of the UN to counter the problems and threats posed by transnational organised crimes such as drugs and trafficking etc.