UT Administration Conducts Meeting with Religious Heads and Tuition Centres

 

Port Blair, July 18: The UT Administration is on war footing to curb the menace of drugs and alcoholism in A&N Islands. In line with this, the Department of Social Welfare organized a meeting with religious heads and NGOs/Associations at Andaman Club here this morning. The meeting was held under the Chairmanship of the Secretary (Social Welfare), Smti. Neha Bansal, IAS. The Superintendent of Police, (SA), Shri Deepak Yadav, Chairperson, SSWB, Dr. Poonam Arora, Director (Social Welfare) Shri Shailender Singh, Director (DHS), Dr. S.P Burma, religious heads and representatives from NGOs/Associations were present on the occasion.

In her address, the Secretary (SW) appealed to all religious heads, NGOs/Associations to join hands with Social Welfare Department in its fight against drug abuse among the youth of the Isles.

Speaking on the occasion, the Superintendent of Police, Deepak Yadav threw light on the steps taken by the Police Department in dealing with drug menace and also sought the help of general public from all quarters in achieving the objective of this meeting.

Religious heads & representatives from various NGOs/Associations viz.  Swami Shudananda from Chinmaya Mission, Chairperson (SSWB), Dr. Poonam Arora, Shri Ravinder Rao from Art of Living, Chairman Waqf Board, Shri Tabrez, Director (DHS), Dr. SP Burma, Joint Secretary, Andaman Tamil Sangam, Shri Sethu, General Secretary, Andaman Mophla  Association, Shri Abdul Siddique, Shri Zameer Khan from ISMAT, Shri Mithun Das from Human Rights Welfare Association, Smti. Shanta Kumari from Golden Bird (NGO), Shri R. Rajshekar & Shri Omkar from ABVP, Shri Denis Giles (Editor, Andaman Chronicle) and Shri Partho Mandal from Vishwas Hindu Parishad shared their views/suggestions and ways to deal with drug menace in Isles. 

A similar meeting was also organized for heads/in-charge of coaching/tuition centres in the conference hall of Secretariat in the afternoon wherein the Director Social Welfare, Shri Shailender Singh urged the heads of coaching/tuition centres to sensitize students about ill effect of drugs and also to keep strict vigil on the activities of the students attending their centres. The Probation Officer, Social Welfare, Shri A. K. Biswas informed about the availability of IEC materials in the Prohibition Cell of Social Welfare Department which can be utilized by the tuition centres for creating awareness among students.