CM initiates two-days whirlwind tour of drug de-addiction centers of Punjab

Jalandhar, July 5, 2014: In pursuance of his firm resolve to make Punjab a drug free state, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today initiated his two-days whirlwind tour of all the drug de-addiction centers across the state along with experts and the key officers of the Health department.
The Chief Minister who visited the drug de-addiction centers at Batala, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, and Kapurthala, inspected the infra structure and the medical facilities being offered by these centers to the drug addicts undergoing detoxification in these centers. During interaction with the Chief Minister all the drug addicts and their families expressed deep satisfaction over the crusade started by the state government against the drug menace. Most of the patients apprised the Chief Minister that they have voluntarily came to these centers after making up their mind to get rid of the curse of drug addiction.  
Interacting with the media persons during his visit at drug de-addiction center at the ESI Hospital here today, the Chief Minister, while expressing contentment over the functioning of these centers, said that with the concerted efforts of the state government, Punjab would soon become a “drug free state”. He reiterated that the state government has followed a twin strategy for wiping out this menace from Punjab as on one hand massive drive has been initiated to cut the supply line of the drugs and on the other hand a campaign has been embarked for detoxifying the drug addicts in such drug de-addiction centers. Badal said that the state government was giving free medicines to the drug addicted youth in the centers adding that addicts from BPL/ Blue card holder families were also exempted from the other user charges in these centers.
Likewise, the Chief Minister said that in order to make sure that the de-addicted youth could live a life with dignity; the state government would open 22 Rehabilitation centers across the state within three months. He said that soon prefabricated buildings for these centers would be constructed by NBCC, an agency of the Government of India (GoI). Badal said that while a State Board under his Chairmanship would monitor the working of such rehabilitation center across the state, at the district level Committees headed by the concerned Deputy Commissioners would manage the affairs of their respective centers.
Replying to another query about the media reports pertaining to allegations of misuse of NDPS act, the Chief Minister categorically said that that no such case has came into his knowledge till now. However, he said the framing up of innocent persons in false cases would not be tolerated at any cost. Badal further said that the state Police would review such cases, after getting complaints regarding it.
Expressing zero tolerance towards the drug peddlers in the state, the Chief Minister reiterated that any person, however affluent he might be, would not be spared if his indulgence was found in this heinous crime against the mankind. He also said that the state Police was already probing into the role of influential persons in this crime and the law would take its own course in the matter. “I assure you that strict action will be taken against the persons involved in this crime once the enquiry was over” added Badal.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by MLA Pargat Singh, Principal Secretary Health Vinnie Mahajan, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister KJS Cheema, Special Secretary Health Vikas Garg, Commissioner R. Venkatratnam, Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav, Inspector General (Narcotics Cell) Ishwar Singh, Commissioner Police Kunwar Vijay Pratap, SSP (Rural) Narendra Bhargav and renowned Health expert Ajit Awasthi.
Earlier talking to the media persons in Gurdaspur, Batala, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala, the Chief Minister said that the Haryana government's nefarious designs to divide the Sikhs by constituting separate committee for management of Gurudwaras in state would never materialize. He said that by this sinister move the Congress has given a third major assault to the Sikhs, the first two being the Operation Blue Star and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Slamming Lok Sabha MP Captain Amarinder Singh and Punjab Congress Chief Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa for supporting Haryana Government’s move, Badal said that they were not aware about the history of supreme sacrifices made by countless Sikhs for formation of Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC).
The Chief Minister said that this election stunt of Congress would not yield dividends to it as the Sikhs of Haryana have time and again rejected the demand for having separate body for managing the Gurudwara affairs in the state. Badal also cautioned the Congress to refrain from meddling in the religious affairs of the Sikhs just for the sake of its vested political motives. He said that it was unfortunate that the Haryana Government was reviving this contentious issue despite of the fact that the former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had refrained it from taking this step during the UPA government.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister also said that in order to monitor the prices of essential commodities in the state a five-member committee has been constituted, which would oversee the prices of various commodities on the daily basis in the state besides reviewing the action taken by the different authorities under the Essential Commodities Act.