Don’t make singers promoting drugs role models: Punjab CM

Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria leads Walk for Drug-Free Chandigarh to generate awareness and prevent youngsters from falling prey to drug addiction.

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday urged youngsters to reject singers who glorify drugs and instead encouraged them to look up to sport icons, such as the legendary athlete Milkha Singh and cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur, as role models.

Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria (fourth from left) administering the pledge against drugs as his Haryana counterpart Bandaru Dattatreya and chief ministers Bhagwant Mann and Nayab Singh Saini join in after the march in Chandigarh on Saturday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Speaking at the Walk for Drug-Free Chandigarh event along with his Haryana counterpart Nayab Singh Saini and Punjab and Haryana governors Gulab Chand Kataria and Bandaru Dattatraya, respectively, Mann said: “Today, I can see a revolution against drugs in Chandigarh. Don’t make singers who sing songs promoting drugs your role model. Let your ideal be Milkha Singh or Harmanpreet Singh. People of Punjab are famous for joining the army, for wrestling, for kabaddi, and for bhangra. But our fame has faded. If the stone in a ring gets faded, the value of the ring diminishes. If Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh shine, the whole country will shine.”

He highlighted his government’s ‘Yudh Nasheyan Virudh (War Against Drugs)’, a campaign launched on February 28 that aims to rid Punjab of the drug problem by targeting smugglers and peddlers.

Punjab governor and UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria during the walk against drugs in Chandigarh on Saturday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Tried to take everyone along: Kataria

Earlier, Kataria led the Walk for Drug-Free Chandigarh along with Haryana CM Saini. The objective of the event was to prevent youngsters from falling prey to drug addiction. The march began from the Punjab Raj Bhavan in Sector 6 and ended at Tiranga Park in Sector 17 after a stop at the UT Secretariat.

Kataria said efforts are underway to fight drug addiction and he wanted to contribute to them. He said several Olympic-level players had joined the walk for drug-free Chandigarh campaign. “I have tried to take everyone along,” said the governor, who had undertaken a six-day padyatra on April 3 from the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor in Dera Baba Nanak town of Gurdaspur district. That march culminated at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on April 8. He said the border state of Punjab was vulnerable as neighbouring Pakistan was fighting a proxy war by sending drugs to create problems in India. During the march, he urged citizens to make the campaign against drugs a people’s movement.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government also launched an anti-drug awareness campaign, ‘Nasha Mukti Yatra’, on May 2, that will cover every village and ward of the state in May and June.

Youngsters taking the pledge during the event in Chandigarh on Saturday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)

Haryana CM seeks better coordination

“So many youngsters are going towards the direction of drugs, there are challenges in front of us, including social media. We need to stay away from this in order to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Viksit Bharat vision, which is why this event has been organised in Chandigarh,” Saini told reporters at the event.

He emphasised the importance of coordination between the states and enforcement agencies to address the growing drug menace. “The people of Haryana, Chandigarh, and Punjab are doing commendable work in this direction. If the police take action against illegal drug trafficking in any particular state, the drug dealers start moving towards the neighbouring states. This problem can be stopped if various states and enforcement agencies work together in coordination. I believe the Haryana, Punjab, and Chandigarh administrations need to coordinate better for this. I have full faith that together we will eradicate this addiction from its roots,” Saini added. (With ANI inputs)