BURRA VENKATESHAM IAS PRL.SECY TO GOVT OF TS EDUCATION DEPT SPEECH ON DRUG FREE HYDERABAD PROGRAM

Press Note
Hyderabad City Police initiates a program to tackle the growing menace of substance abuse among students!
Over 1000 schools attended the program
Hyderabad, March 3rd, 2024: Hyderabad City Security Council (HCSC) and Hyderabad City Police (HCP) under the stewardship of Shri K. Sreenivasa Reddy, IPS, Commissioner of Police Hyderabad & Hon’ble Chairman HCSC along with Shri KGSS Srikanth, Joint Secretary, Anti- Narcotics Forum, HCSC; hosted a meeting of Schools administrators in Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda city police Commissionerate areas, at the Telangana Police Command and Control Centre, ICCC, today. This program unveiled an interaction between the stake holders, especially schools, to tackle the growing menace of substance abuse among students. Over 1000 schools attended the program.
The event emphasized the importance of training the students with enough life skills to combat narcotics addictions and other challenges of life as the only means to develop them into well-rounded individuals. In the light of this, the life skills training manual ideated and authored by Sri KGSS Srikanth Joint Secretory Anti- Narcotics groups was launched jointly by Shri Burra Venkatesham, IAS, Principal Secretary, Education Department and Collegiate Education Commissioner, Sri Devasena, IAS, Commissioner School education and the three police commissioners of city Sri K Srinivas Reddy IPS, Sri Avinash Mohanty IPS, Sri Tarun Joshi IPS along with guest of honor Sandeep Shandiliya Director general of police Telangana state bureau.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Guest Shri Burra Venkatesham, IAS, Principal Secretary, Education Department and Collegiate Education Commissioner, said, the future and safety of our country is being framed in the classroom, today, if we ignore the classroom, we are heading towards disaster. We all need to work together seriously on this issue of drug abuse among children. Hyderabad should become drug free city and Telangana should become drug free state.
Shri K. Sreenivasa Reddy, IPS, Commissioner of Police; said, the response for the program organized for schools and their managements from across the tri-Commissionerate of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda city police, has been overwhelming and indicates your commitment to the cause. Drug abuse has been on the rise and is not even sparing schools and colleges. To help pursue the cause and make this city free of drugs, schools need to play a role by conducting surveillance of surrounding shops to monitor the sale of edibles associated with drugs. Monitor students for sudden behaviorial changes and also caution parents to do the same at homes. Drug mafia is constantly on lookout for gullible students reeling under stress, so schools should have mechanism to address academic stress. Every school should have Anti-drug committees to help freeing the school and the society from this menace. The police and the education departments are available to render the necessary support.
Shri Sandeep Shandilya, IPS, Director, Telangana State Anti-narcotics Bureau; said, in today’s society peer pressure, lack of love among children is being compensated with money. Kids take to drugs because they are unhappy with your comparison, with peer pressure, lack of love, lack of recognition, all these are leading to a stressful situation and that’s how he slowly gets into such bad habits. Therefore, don’t put the child in a rat race. All stakeholders, including parents, teachers, law enforcement, must uphold their responsibilities to effectively tackle this threat.
Shri Avinash Mohanty, IPS, Commissioner of Police Cyberabad, said, this vice is the most dangerous to the human society, there is nothing which has destroyed as much as drugs has in the past and it is continuing to do so.
Dr Tarun Joshi, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Rachakonda, said, creating awareness about the drug menace is the need of the hour, an issue which is really bothering all of us. Here, we are discussing about a generation, which is getting impacted by a menace which is assuming very alarming proportions now. There is tremendous change in the parent child relationship, today there is hardly any personal touch between the two.
About NADREP:
Narcotics & other Addictions De- sensitization, Reprocessing & Prevention
This initiative encourages an inclusive community approach. Through this forum, we aim to create a safe space for victims, their families, educational institutes and any one associated directly or indirectly with substance abuse to talk about it and seek help without fear of judgement; because we are here to help! Therefore, we plan to take the approach of educating the communities, especially children about the consequences of addictions and overall, making them understand the importance of making better choices in life.
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