Governor inaugurates two days Interactive Capacity Building Initiative Programme

Shimla : Governor Bandaru Dattatraya today inaugurated two-days Interactive Capacity Building Initiative Programme for training drug law enforcement officers of the departments of HP Police and State Excise on a virtual platform from Raj Bhavan Shimla organized by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) , Regional Office for South Asia, New Delhi.Himachal and its neighbouring states are grappling with a serious drug problem and youths are rapidly indulging in drug habits. Strict laws were definitely made and governments are also working at their own level but, there is a need to bring awareness against this social evil through participation of voluntary organizations and common people, said the Governor.While fulfilling its “Vision Document, 2017”, the State Government accepted the multi-dimensional challenge of the problem, he added. He said that in response to the prevalent drug situation the State Government constituted the first ever institutional mechanism in the country in the form of HP Nasha Nivaran Board headed by the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. He said that the Board had taken several initiatives by way of effective coordination and monitoring the performance of concerned line agencies.He expressed satisfaction that the State was doing well in the field in terms of Detection of drug related crimes and effecting seizures of heavy quantities of drugs apart from generating mass awareness and establishment of drug treatment and rehabilitation facilities in the State. He hoped that the officers shall take full professional advantage of the Knowledge sharing being imparted by widely experienced faculty associated with the UNODC.Earlier, Sergey Kapinos, Regional Representative of UNODC, South Asia welcomed the Governor and said that UNODC was mandated to assist member nations of the UN to counter the problems and threats posed by transnational organized crimes like drugs and trafficking etc. He said that UNODC’s Regional Office for South Asia, located in New Delhi, cover six countries in the region and has made significant progress in combating these crimes. He added that a lot remains to be achieved, particularly in the field of drug trafficking, which has ramification in wide areas of social maladies.O.P. Sharma, Convener, Himachal Pradesh Nasha Nivaran Board also welcomed the Governor on the occasion.Rakesh Kanwar, Secretary to Governor, Jayant Mishra, Consultant and Former Director General, Revenue Intelligence and other members of UNODC were also present on the occasion.