Wage war on drugs, focus on rehabilitation of victims: CS to officers

JAMMU, Feb 6: Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta today chaired the 4th UT Level Apex Committee meeting of NCORD and held an in-depth review of all the ongoing activities happening across Jammu and Kashmir to combat the drug menace here. The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary, Home; DGP, J&K; Principal Secretary, Education; Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; ADGP, Kashmir/Jammu; Commissioner Secretary, Forests; Commissioner Secretary, Social Welfare; Secretary Health; Director, Information and Public Relations; Excise Commissioner; State Drug Controller; Zonal Director, NCB Jammu; SSP, ANTF and all the Deputy Commissioners and District SPs both in person and through video conferencing.
Dr Mehta remarked that the victims of drug abuse deserves handholding and every possible assistance to live a normal life. He impressed upon the officers that without showing any laxity on the ongoing war on drugs, focus should also be laid on rehabilitation of its victims. The Chief Secretary further exhorted upon the officers to involve PRIs as well as Anganwadi centres and schools for rehabilitation of drug abuse victims as well as for generating awareness among public particularly youth about the negative impact of drug abuse. He underscored that it is our collective duty to root out this plague from the society. Highlighting on the importance of creating awareness among public, Dr. Mehta enjoined upon the officers to maintain coordination and synergy between different Departments and stakeholders so that this evil is uprooted completely from the UT.
He impressed upon the Secretary Health to upscale the activities under Tele Manas helpline for counselling and proper rehabilitation of victims. He also directed the Health department to create awareness among public about the Tele Manas helpline number 14416 as well as establish WhatsApp helpline under same initiative. Stressing on the need of proper vigil and surveillance to combat this menace, the Chief Secretary directed the Deputy Commissioners and SSPs to monitor the hotspot areas in their respective districts involved in trading of drugs and take required punitive actions on same. He asked them to monitor pharmacies and take action against those found involved in misuse of drugs which can be used as Psychotropic substances. He also asked them to take action against pharmacies found involved in selling of drugs without prescription from authorised medical practitioners. He stressed on making special efforts to check online pharmacies, courier services for not taking any chance against this social evil. While reviewing the measures of law enforcement agencies regarding combating of this evil, Dr. Mehta exhorted upon the officers to analyse the data of districts regarding conviction rates under NDPS Act and act on the officers for non-performance during investigation of these cases . He stressed on increasing the rate of converting the FIRs into convictions besides involving all the stakeholders in the ‘War against Drugs'.
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary also sought a briefing from all the Deputy Commissioners and SSPs regarding efforts being made for combating this menace across Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier in the meeting, a detailed presentation on drug scenario in J&K and the challenges to counter the drug menace and efforts being made by all stakeholders to fight this problem was also presented before the Chief Secretary. It was given in the meeting that in Kashmir Division, a total of 159 drug dealers have been booked under PITNDPS while in Jammu Division 43 drug dealers have been detained during 2022. Similarly the meeting was informed that a total of 1850 FIRs have been registered while 2756 persons have been arrested for carrying out these illicit trade. Moreover during 2022, 240 kg Heroin, 498 kgs Charas, 249 Kg Ganja, and 178677 Caps/bottles/tabs of Scheduled drugs have been seized throughout J&K, as was revealed in this meeting.