Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh on Thursday urged Jathedar Sri Akal Takht Sahib Giani Gurbachan Singh to appeal to the Sikh community not to resort to drug abuse and to strictly follow the path shown by the great Sikh Gurus.

In a letter written to Jathedar Singh, the CM said that Sri Akal Takht Sahib-the highest temporal seat of Sikhism had always played a pro-active role whenever the state was faced with any sort of crisis from a religious perspective.

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Pointing out that a sizeable chunk of the state’s population had been in the grip of drug abuse for the past many years, Amarinder said that several youngsters from the Sikh families had also fallen prey to it.

The CM expressed concern over the gravity of the situation caused by drug abuse, which was contrary to the Sikh tenets.

Though the government has already launched a vigorous anti-drug campaign, its efforts needed to be further strengthened and supplemented, he added.

Meanwhile Directing the Tandrust (healthy) Punjab Mission to be all-encompassing, from ‘Kisan to Naujawan ( from farmers to youth) chief principal secretary to CM, Suresh Kumar, said that along with the ongoing measures to guide the farmers it is necessary that Anti-Drugs Campaign and De-Addiction Monitoring be an integral part of the Mission.

He said that although the infrastructure is in place for the same still interdepartmental coordination and checks are a must and Tandarust Punjab Mission should pay special attention to it.

Reviewing the progress of the Tandarust Punjab Mission and deliberating with the secretaries of the concerned departments on the further course of action for the mission, Kumar said to increase the green cover in the state it is mandatory that green component be a part of every upcoming construction in the state, be it roads, highways or buildings.

He suggested framing guidelines for the same and ensuring dedicated ‘green budget’ in every construction. In the view of the ongoing plantation period, he suggested the focus of plantation be in the dry or relatively less greener areas like Muktsar, Budlada and Bhiki (Mansa).

Stressing upon the need to decongest the markets, he suggested to start ‘Changa Bazar , Changa Veopar’ campaign where in the shopkeepers be motivated to stop encroaching the pavements and the roads for the free movement of customers and convince them that decongested and clean markets self-attract buyers.