OFFICIALS MULL SOCIAL BOYCOTT OF THOSE SELLING DRUGS TO CHILDREN

Raj Sadosh/Abohar.

During the quarterly meeting of the Sriganganagar District Child Protection Unit, Additional District Collector Subhash Kumar ordered the identification of and action against those facilitating child marriages. Addressing the issue of drug abuse awareness, the ADC stated, “Addiction to a single injection can ruin an entire family’s life.” Many drug users share the same needle or syringe repeatedly, leading to a rise in HIV cases and putting the users’ entire families at risk of infection.”

Additional Superintendent of Police, Deepak Sharma, said that strict action would be taken against those selling banned substances to children, and FIRs would be registered against such individuals under Sections 77 and 78 of the Juvenile Justice Act. Assistant Director Rajiv Jakhar informed that the Medical Department has been instructed to provide counselling and medical facilities for children suffering from substance abuse, while the Education Department has been asked to identify school dropouts and reintegrate them into the school system.

The meeting was attended by Renu Khairwa (Superintendent, Government Observation and Juvenile Home), Hariram Chauhan (Additional Chief Executive Officer), Virender Pal Singh Sekhon (Deputy Director, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment), Dev Anand (District Transport Officer), Joginder Kaushik (Chairperson, Child Welfare Committee), Dr. Ram Prakash Sharma (Member, CWC), Vikas Saraswat (Member, Juvenile Justice Board), Trilok Verma (Child Helpline Coordinator), Shivcharan Meena (Deputy Labour Commissioner), Vijay Kumar (Assistant Director, Department of Women Empowerment), and officials from other departments.