Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, The Punjab Congress would launch massive ‘Save Punjab’ anti-drug awareness campaign from tomorrow in the state to combat this menace which has spread like a virus afflicting particularly the youth.
Announcing this here today, the state party chief Mr Partap Singh Bajwa said the programme had ben chalked out under the guidance of the party vice-president, Mr Rahul Gandhi who was the first among the top leaders to voice his serious concern about the drug hazard quoting studies on the subject to which the Akali Dal leadership had taken strong exception.
He asserted it was Mr Gandhi who was ultimately proved right as this problem had now assumed alarming proportions. Even the ruling Akali Dal and the BJP had been forced to take notice of this grave situation, especially after the names of the Akali leaders cropped up in deep rooted drug smuggling racket following interrogation of the smugglers.
Mr Bajwa disclosed that in the first phase, this campaign would cover five Assembly constituencies including Majitha, Ludhiana (W), Chabbewal, Qadian and Sanaur. During this programme, the Congress activists would go from house to house to make the people aware of the damage that this menace was afflicting on the people. All wards and villages would be covered in these five constituencies under the Save Punjab campaign.
He said in the second phase, these trained Congress volunteers will fan out in the entire state to cover each and every house.
He said this would be the biggest ever mass contact programme being launched by the party in Punjab under the guidance of Mr Gandhi who was deeply concerned over the deteriorating situation in the state.
Mr Bajwa reiterated the demand for a CBI inquiry into the drug smuggling in the state saying the Akali Dal could not now run away saying this was the Congress Bureau of Investigation as the party was now part of the BJP government at the centre.
He said 60 per cent of all narcotics confiscated by various agencies all over the country originated Punjab. Various surveys and estimates say that about 75% of Punjabi youth were addicted to some drug or the other. Nearly 60 per cent of all families of the state had been affected by this menace.
