Jalandhar, March 16, 2018: More than one lakh volunteers from the seven districts of Jalandhar Division would take oath along with the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on March 23rd, the martyrdom of Shaheed-e-Aazam Bhagat Singh, to be observed as ‘youth empowerment day’ for wiping out the curse of drugs from the state.
A decision to this effect was taken in a high level meeting presided over by the Commissioner of Jalandhar Division Raj Kamal Chaudhary here at District Administrative Complex (DAC) in which Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Varinder Kumar Sharma, Inspector General of Police Mr. Arpit Shukla, Commissioner of Police Mr. Praveen Kumar Sinha, Inspector General (IG) of Special Task Police of Punjab against drugs Pramod Baan , Senior Superintendent of Police Jalandhar Rural Gurpreet Singh Bhullar and others were also present.
Chairing the meeting, the Divisional Commissioner said that the state government was working on three pronged strategy of enforcement, de-addiction and prevention of drug abuse in the state. He said that as a part of the prevention strategy the state government has now decided to launch ‘Drug Abuse Prevention Officer (DAPO), program’, which would be launched by the Chief Minister at Khatkarkalan in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar. Mr. Chaudhary said that the Chief Minister would administer oath against drugs to volunteers on the solemn occasion.
The Divisional Commissioner said that simultaneously more than one lakh volunteers would also administer oath with the Chief Minister (via video conferencing) in seven districts headquarters of Jalandhar Division viz. Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot besides at Sub Divisional level. He said that the district level function would be chaired by the Divisional Commissioners or Deputy Commissioners whereas at Sub Divisional level these functions would be chaired by the Sub Divisional Magistrate. Mr. Chaudhary said that universities and degree colleges would hold separate functions to be chaired by Vice Chancellors and Principals.
The Divisional Commissioner said that DAPOs would be of two types-Official Volunteer (OV) and Citizen Volunteers (CV) adding that they would be assigned task of raising awareness against drug abuse, identification of users, high risk people and vulnerable sections. Likewise, Mr. Chaudhary said that the DAPOs would also motivate the drug users and their families to avail treatment facilities besides facilitating their treatment and counseling at drug de-addiction centres besides provide feedback to the state government on the issue.
The Divisional Commissioner said that the DAPOs would be enrolled by Sub Division Mission Teams using Police Sanjh Kendras as nodal points. He said that the DAPO (OV) would be official volunteer working under the Punjab government or any of its undertaking whereas DAPO (CV) would be a citizen volunteer except OV. Mr. Chaudhary said that the purpose was enroll atleast one DAPO in every ward/ mohalla/ village of the state, so that they could persuade the people to join war against drugs.
Earlier, the Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Varinder Kumar Sharma welcomed all the officers to the district.
On the occasion Deputy Commissioner Kapurthala Mr. Mohammed Tayyab, Deputy Commissioner Hoshiarpur Vipul Ujjwal, Deputy Commissioner Gurdaspur Gurloveleen Singh, Deputy Commissioner Pathankot Neelima, Senior Superintendent of Police Kapurthala Sandeep Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police Hoshiarpur J. Elanchezhian, Deputy Commissioner of Police Jalandhar Gurmeet Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Jasbir Singh and others were also present.