Kulgam : The Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kulgam, Athar Aamir Khan on Tuesday convened a meeting of the District Level Committee under the Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) at mini-secretariat, here.
The meeting was convened to discuss various measures to curb the drug abuse and narcotic trade in the district and review the implementation of decisions and directions passed in previous meetings.
At the outset, the DC highlighted the graveness of the issue and said that the drug menace is a serious issue and requires unwavering commitment from all stakeholders, and emphasized upon all to work together relentlessly to eliminate this menace from its roots.
During the meeting, threadbare discussion was held on various issues related to incidence of drug addiction, areas of concern and hotspots of drug use, and action taken by the concerned departments with regard to curbing the menace.
The DC sought details from the concerned departments about the measures taken to control the drug menace.
During the meeting ADC through a PowerPoint presentation informed the chair that from 01-01-2023 to 31-12-2023, 208 FIRs were registered, 257 Drug Peddlers arrested and 165 cases were challaned.
He also added that illicit poppy cultivation was also destroyed on 738 Kanals of land by involving Excise, Revenue, RDD and Police and free of cost seeds were provided to farmers as a rehabilitation measure.
While reviewing the measures taken to curb the drug menace, the DC maintained that the District Administration is focused to create a drug-free environment in the district and stressed upon the officers of all the line departments including Enforcement agencies to ensure better coordination to contain the drug peddling and to break the supply chain.
He also asked the police and other concerned authorities to take stringent action against the culprits involved in the hazardous trade of drugs.
DC also instructed concerned authorities to increase checks on pharmacies and college and school authorities were instructed to keep close vigil on students besides to go for mapping of hotspots.
He also instructed for preparing a comprehensive IEC plan to organise the massive awareness and orientation programmes against the drug abuse across the district and also instructed to frame a Gram Panchayat level Committee.
The meeting was attended by ADC Viqar Ahmed Giri, SDM Noorabad Bashir Ul Hassan, CEO, Tehsildars, CMO, DIO, DSWO and other officers from police and civil administration.
