SRINAGAR: A meeting of the District Level Committee of Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) was today held under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar, Mohammad Aijaz Asad at the Conference Hall of DC Office Complex in order to discuss the comprehensive strategy to counter the menace of drug abuse in Srinagar.
The DC reviewed the implementation of the measures taken and progress achieved to eliminate drug abuse and its peddling from the Srinagar District, particularly during the last two months.
At the outset, the DC took a detailed appraisal from concerned members of the NCORD Committee regarding the present scenario of drug-related occurrences, areas of concern, age group of addicts, and hot spots of drug abuse in the District.
The DC took feedback from the members of the Committee including SP Headquarters, Incharge Drug De-addiction Centre SMHS Hospital, and Incharge ATF, SKIMS Bemina who presented the latest report related to action taken against drug addiction and drug trafficking in the last 2 months in the District.
On the occasion, the DC stressed upon the Officers of all the line Departments to further intensify IEC activities, connecting communities including religious influencers and civil society members, besides holding capacity-building programmes for Heads of Educational Institutions.
The DC also emphasized the Officers including Enforcement agencies for strengthening the intelligence network to crack hotspots of drug abuse, and obstruct drug peddling, besides creating greater deterrence to combat the dangerous trade of drug trafficking.
The DC also called for attacking the problem of drugs from both supply and demand sides vital to contain the drug peddling and break the supply chain. He also called for stringent action against the culprits involved in the hazardous trade of drugs.
The DC asked the Revenue and Police authorities to pace up the process of the hotspots of the drugs.
Similarly, the DC also laid thrust on further intensifying IEC campaigns at Schools and Colleges levels to sensitize students and common masses about the ill effects of drugs as well as encourage healthy activities and hobbies to discourage drug abuse.
The DC asked the Chief Education Officer and Nodal Officer Colleges to conduct seminars, rallies, and other programmes on the harmful effects of drug menace in all Government and Private Educational Institutions of the District so that youth is discouraged from tempting by drugs. The DC stressed on adopting zero-tolerance against drug abuse in all Educational Institutions of the District.
The DC laid stress on the identification of drug hotspots in the District and asked the enforcement agencies to conduct raids on such identified hotspots to nab the drug peddlers.
During the meeting, the DC also asked the RTO and Health Departments to constitute a special Joint team to conduct random testing of vulnerable groups including drivers of commercial vehicles.
The DC also emphasized on the effective functioning of Addiction Treatment Facility Centres (ATFCs) to fight against drug addiction and mitigate the sufferings of the drugs affected persons. He also laid trust in ensuring proper counseling and rehabilitation for individuals struggling with addiction.
SP Headquarter, Arif Amin Shah apprised the meeting that as many as 13 new drug peddlers have been detained under Narco PSA since May 2023, besides 9 accused detained under PIT NDPS. In addition, 60 gms of heroin, Charas, 348.28 gm, 9.5 kgs of Bung Poppy, 800 psychotropic syrup bottles, and 24860 capsules/tablets of psychotropic substances were recovered.
