‘Crack hotspots of drug abuse in Srinagar’

Srinagar, Dec 26: Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar, Mohammad Aijaz Asad Tuesday chaired a District Level meeting on Prevention of Drug Abuse & Narcotics Trade (NCORD) here.

The meeting reviewed measures taken by Law Enforcement Agencies and other stakeholders to curb the menace of drug abuse and crush the Hotspots of drug peddling in Srinagar District.

Besides, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Syed Shabir Ahmad, Superintendent of Police, Arif Amin Shah, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Syed Ahmad Kataria and SP Traffic, Tariq Ahmad, the meeting was attended by Programme Officer ICDS, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Education Officer, District Social Welfare Officer, Chief Agricultural Officer, Deputy Drug Controller, ARTO, DDMO Srinagar, Incharge Drug De-addiction Centre SMHS Hospital, Incharge ATF, SKIMS Bemina and Officers from ANTF, Excise, Labour, DYSSO and other Departments.

At the outset, the Deputy Commissioner took a detailed appraisal from concerned members of NCORD Committee regarding implementation of the deterrence measures taken and progress achieved to eliminate drug abuse and its peddling from the Srinagar District particularly during the last 3 months. He also reviewed the present scenario of drug related occurrences, hot spots of drug abuse, besides anti-drugs awareness campaign and drug deterrence measures in place in Srinagar District.

On the occasion, the DC emphasised the Officers including Enforcement agencies for taking concerted efforts to crack hotspots of drug abuse, obstruct drug-peddling, besides creating greater deterrence to combat dangerous trade of drug-trafficking.

The DC said menace of Drugs is non-negotiable and stressed on adopting zero tolerance against the drug abuse He also called the members of NCORD Committee to keep vigil on vulnerable places to prevent spread of drugs.

The DC called for attacking the societal issue of drug menace from both supply and demand sides to contain the drug peddling and break the supply chain. He also stressed upon the Officers of all the line Departments to further intensify the deterrence measures to control the harmful effects of drug menace so that youth is discouraged from tempting towards drugs.

The DC also urged the concerned to intensify the IEC campaign and install signages for awareness of target groups and also implement the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act 2003(COTPA 2003), around the educational institutions to prevent the children/ youth from the harmful effects of tobacco and its products.

During the meeting, a roadmap was discussed for making Drugs Free Panchayats in Srinagar District. The DC asked for undertaking an analysis study by the District Statistics & Evaluation Office to assess the drugs situation in Srinagar District.

Earlier, the DC was given feedback by the members of the Committee including Superintendent of Police, Incharge Drug De-addiction Centre SMHS Hospital, Incharge ATF, SKIMS Bemina, Deputy Drug Controller and other enforcement agencies, who presented the latest report related to action taken against drug addiction and drug trafficking in the last 3 months in Srinagar District.

The members of NCORD Committee also presented the latest developments and strategies employed in the District to control drug addiction and its trafficking. He was informed that during the year 2022 as many as 1909 new patients (drug victims) visited the Drug De-addiction Centre SMHS Hospital, while in 2023 only 728 such patients visited the Centre for treatment.

The Superintendent of Police apprised the meeting that as many as 107 cases have been registered in Srinagar District during current year and 186 drug peddlers have been booked under PITs-PSA and other Acts. In addition, huge quantity Contra Band substance were also seized/recovered including 108 gms of brown sugar, 12.07 kgs Heroin, 11.81 Kgs of Charas, 19.5 Kgs of Fuki, 1361 PSY syrup bottles, 41812 PSY capsules/tablets, besides illicit cultivation of 7.16 Kgs Ganja, 2.09 quintals of bang/poppy straw/cannabises were destroyed, in addition, to the cash recovery of Rs 26.46 lakh from the drug peddlers.

Similarly, the DC was informed that the Excise Department has destroyed wild bang spread over 350 kanals of land in Srinagar District, besides illicit poppy cultivation over 12.5 kanals of land during the current year. In addition, several awareness programmes regarding Narcotic Crops/Drug Abuse were also conducted.

Likewise, the DC was also briefed about the action taken and deterrence measures taken by the Anti-Narcotic Task Force(ANTF) to curb drug peddling in Srinagar District.