To ensure community involvement against drug abuse, the Amarinder Singh government is all set to launch an awareness campaign against drug abuse prevention on March 23.
Under it, nearly three lakh government employees and one lakh elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) will be involved as ex-officio drug abuse prevention officers (DAPO).
Giving details of the programme, an official spokesperson said the DAPO programme was designed as a doorstep model and aimed at generating a mass movement, whereby each DAPO will aim to make his locality a Nasha Mukt Mohalla (drug-free-locality). The DAPOs will be provided training and their work would be suitably rewarded, he added.
Chairing a meeting of the deputy commissioners (DCs) and senior superintendents of police (SSPs) on Wednesday, the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said the state government will launch the programme on March 23, the martyrdom day of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, to be observed as Youth Empowerment Day.
The CM directed the DCs and SSPs to personally take on the mantle of implementation of the DAPO programme which he described as a major initiative for partnering the community to prevent drug abuse.
Amarinder said it was the top-most priority of his government, in which he expected all DCs and SSPs to be actively involved, on the ground, to ensure its successful implementation.
He ordered all departments, both at the district and state level, as well as the anti-drugs Special Task Force to work in cohesion to execute the programme. The CM’s office, he said, would closely monitor the program on a fortnightly basis.
Amarinder asked officials to immediately launch a multi-media awareness campaign on to ensure maximum enlistment of DAPOs and coverage of each locality in the state. He further instructed them to initiate the enlistment process immediately.