Shimla: Giving fresh momentum to the state’s anti-drug campaign, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday led a massive mobilisation of school and college students, teachers and parents in Bilaspur, reiterating his unwavering resolve to eradicate chitta, a deadly narcotic, from Himachal Pradesh.
Undeterred by poor visibility that grounded his helicopter, the Chief Minister travelled by road to reach Bilaspur, where the town resonated with powerful anti-drug slogans. He reaffirmed the government’s zero-tolerance policy against drug peddlers, vowing stringent action, imprisonment of offenders and confiscation of their ill-gotten properties.
Bilaspur was the fourth town to organise a walkathon, following Shimla, Dharamshala, and Hamirpur, within a period of five to six weeks.
The walkathon, organised from the Government Senior Secondary School (Boys) to Luhnu Ground, witnessed enthusiastic participation from students, public representatives, officers,, and prominent citizens.
Sukhu administered a solemn oath at the school ground, where participants pledged to collectively eliminate chitta and other narcotic substances from Himachal Pradesh.
Addressing a large gathering at Luhnu Ground, the Chief Minister described chitta as a “slow poison” destroying the future of the youth and shattering families, while also subjecting them to social stigma.
He said the state government had launched a mass anti-drug movement from the historic Ridge Maidan in Shimla on November 15, followed by campaigns in Dharamshala and Hamirpur, with Bilaspur being another vital turning point in the people’s movement today.
The CM announced that the govt would soon launch an ‘Anti-Chitta Volunteer Scheme,’ under which college and university students, NCC and NSS cadets, members of youth clubs, and socially conscious citizens would be trained as frontline volunteers in the campaign.