Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmed Khan, today said that the battle against drugs is a shared and collective responsibility and everyone has to play due role to weed out this menace from the society.Advisor made these remarks during a public outreach programme held at Bijbehara during which he met people and listened to their grievances and demands.A delegation from Bijbehara and its adjoining areas complained about the menace of drug abuse saying this evil addiction is killing their future generations and demanded strict action against the responsible culprits.Advisor asked the district administration to explore measures for providing alternate livelihood projects to keep people away from poppy cultivation for cash.Advisor Khan said that it is a shared and collective responsibility of the society to tackle this menace and every citizen has to take it as a challenge to create awareness and fight this menace. If everyone in the area makes efforts, this drug menace can be fought and rooted out from the society.
Community members are requested to come forward with any information regarding drug peddlers in their neighbourhood and appropriate action will be taken accordingly, he maintained.Advisor asked the district administration to involve the community members, religious heads and form special squads to check the supply and usage of drugs. He further directed them to engage dedicated volunteers to work in their localities in coordination with the local administration, the police and the special squads. He emphasized upon the officers to educate the people about the ill effects of drug abuse and said that awareness in this regard will go a long way in wiping out the drug menace. He said that lot has been done and more needs to be done to root out the drug menace adding that consistent actions of the government against drug peddlers should reassure the community members that we are making efforts to keep our society free from the scourge of drug menace. The residents of the area said that they will support every effort of the administration in this fight against the drug menace.