*Continuous activities imperative to control prevailing situation
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 17: Majority of the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) are not strictly following the Government instructions regarding checking of substance abuse in their respective areas. Even some Government departments too have stopped generating awareness, which otherwise is imperative to check the menace from spreading further in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Government vide Circular No.30-JK(GAD) dated September 3, 2022 assigned tasks to different departments as part of “Nasha Mukt J&K Abhiyaan” with the instructions about designating Nodal Officers for coordinated efforts.
All the Municipal Corporations and other Urban Local Bodies were directed to continuously spread the message about ill effects of substance abuse in the localities under their jurisdiction through mobile vans and conduct regular checks on the activities of public in parks and inform police accordingly about the cases of substance abuse.
Further, they were directed to conduct special sessions regarding substance abuse and pass resolutions and hold regular sessions of sanitation workers and in slum areas regarding ill effects of drugs on regular basis.
“Initially, there was compliance of these instructions by the Urban Local Bodies but with the passage of time holding of such activities stopped abruptly”, sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “now, mobile vans are not being pressed for generating awareness about the menace and activities of drug peddlers remain unchecked in the public parks and gardens”.
They further said, “there is hardly any Urban Local Body which has held special session on substance abuse and passed any resolution about containing the same”, adding “the activities remained confined in the month of September last year despite the fact that in the instructions it was specifically mentioned that such activities should be conducted continuously”.
The non-serious approach of the Urban Local Bodies is notwithstanding the fact that Section 47 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPSA) clearly states that every officer of the Government or elected representative is supposed to keep watch on such activities and whosoever fails to do so is liable to punishment, sources informed.
Similar is the response of the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, who otherwise were explicitly told to pass resolutions in the Gram Sabhas about checking the menace of substance abuse in their respective areas. “There is no mobile clinic for screening and de-addiction facilities in the rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir as if only one month long campaign was going to check the menace completely”, sources said.
The Government had even directed the schools, colleges and ITIs to teach on drug abuse and its ill effects and School Education Department was under instruction to include a chapter on substance abuse in curriculum but at present neither any such activity is being conducted in majority of the educational institutions nor any chapter has been incorporated in the curriculum even after the lapse of several months, sources informed.
Likewise, Floriculture Department was directed to undertake special initiatives and ensure that all gardens under its administrative control are not misused by drug victims/peddlers but activities of drug-peddlers are continuing unabated in several parks and gardens particularly in the extended parts of the Jammu city.
“Apart from the activities which were suggested by the Government all the concerned agencies particularly Urban Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions are required to make efforts to remove the social taboo associated with the menace as the same will go a long way in identifying the drug addicts in the society and for their de-addiction”, sources said.
It is pertinent to mention here that coordinated, multi-dimensional, inter-departmental and multi-level campaign is needed to tackle the menace of substance abuse and to ensure rehabilitation of victims.
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