Chandigarh, May 5 : Dedicating his birthday to social welfare, Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal appealed to the saints to cooperate with the state government to curb the social evils spread in the society. The saints appreciated the campaign being run by the state government for water conservation and de-addiction and assured the Chief Minister of their cooperation for the success of these virtuous works.

A special meeting was organized on the subject of water conservation and de-addiction campaign with saints at Chief Minister’s residence Sant Kabir Kutir.

The Chief Minister said that saints and great men have always worked to make people aware against social evils. “The people have also given full cooperation in eradicating social evils by following the ideas and teachings of saints. The campaign will definitely be successful, if saints and great men cooperate with the state government in water conservation and de-addiction campaign,” he added.

State government taking strict action against drug peddlers to combat drug abuse: Rajesh Khullar

During the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Information, Public Relations, Languages and Culture Department, Sh. Rajesh Khullar apprised about the reality of the drug abuse problem through a presentation. He informed that as per the instructions of the Chief Minister, the state government is taking strict action against the drug peddlers. For this, the government has constituted a special task force. Anti-narcotics cells have been formed at the district, range and state levels and more than 5,000 arrests have been made in Haryana, he added. Till January, 2023, properties worth Rs 37.29 crore of persons involved in drug offences have been attached and the process of attaching property worth Rs 15 crore is underway.

Sh. Rajesh Khullar informed that a mobile app 'Saathi' has been created to prevent illegal sale of medicines. Also, software HAWK has been developed for database of criminal activities and Inter-State Drug Secretariat has been established at Panchkula. He informed that the state government has prepared a special action plan for de-addiction and 52 de-addiction centers have been opened in the state. Besides, de-addiction wards have been opened in government medical colleges and de-addiction centers have been set up in civil hospitals of 13 districts.

Apart from this, toll free anti-drug helpline number 9050891508 has been started on which citizens can give information and ‘Dhakad’ programmes are also being run to save the youth from drugs.

Government taking concrete steps towards water conservation: Devender Singh

In the meeting, Advisor (Irrigation) to Chief Minister, Sh. Devender Singh apprised the saints that under the guidance of the Chief Minister, the state government is taking concrete steps towards water conservation. He also informed about the recently organized two-day ‘Water Conclave’ in which future action plan for water conservation and water harvesting was discussed.

Alwar MP, Mahant Balaknath, Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, Gita Manishi Swami Gyananand Ji Maharaj, along with other saints were present in the meeting.