Himachal Forum against Drug Abuse (HFADA) has decided to launch a joint programme against the menace of drug abuse in the state.
Sharing this information with media persons at Shimla on Saturday, HFADA President Deepak Sanan (a former senior IAS officer of Himachal) said, “HFADA has been constituted with an aim to create a collective energy to combat the serious and widespread problem of drug abuse in the state”.
The forum was constituted recently in a two day joint workshop against drug abuse at Shimla, which was attended by 42 different organizations to start a joint campaign against the drug abuse.
He said , “ All organizations within HFADA,- a group of 55 social and cultural organizations, have geared up to combat the menace of drug abuse through a joint campaign; the workshop at Shimla mainly focused on capacity building to develop a clear perspective for formulating a strategy to launch a campaign for the next three to six months throughout the state.”
“Different action plans were presented during the workshop to increase the public outreach during the campaign, various modules for the stakeholders are being developed and soon campaigns would begin in the state,” he added.
HAFADA has assigned the responsibility of preparing campaign material to Kangra-based NGO – Gunjan Sanstha and Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti (HGVS), an organization which played a significant role in the literacy campaign, to coordinate with organizations for making the campaign a public movement against drug abuse. .
Director of Gunjan Sanstha Pankaj Pandit said, “The training modules and campaign material for effective communication with the various stakeholders like students, parents, teachers, public representatives, the police, and the judiciary will be prepared soon.”
HGVS state secretary Satyawan Pundir said. “More organizations will be roped in to make it a mass movement during the campaign against the drug abuse and HFADA will make a concerted effort to save people, especially students and youths from the menace of drug abuse.”
