Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal has announced to launch special campaign from next month to fight against the menace of drugs in the state.
In order to save the youth from drugs and to put a check on network of drug peddlers, an integrated secretariat for states namely Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh is being established at Panchkula. This mission of the Chief Minister got boost when more than 50,000 youth of district Sirsa, participated in the 'Run for Unity' programme organised on the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Sirsa on Wednesday. The campaign would be launched under Ek Aur Sudhar Programme.
The Run for Unity programme was organised across the country on Wednesday. In this series, the Chief Minister flagged off the marathon at district Sirsa. He himself participated in the marathon and administered the oath of national unity and integrity to the people. The marathon was organised in categories of 42 km, 21 km, 11 km and five km in which youth of the districts and neighbouring districts of Hisar, Fatehabad and states namely Punjab and Rajasthan also participated. The Chief Minister gave cash prizes ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 to the winners of the marathon.
He said that it is the responsibility of the State Government to keep youth away from drugs and for this, collective efforts should be made. He said that the way Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Programme has become a success with people's participation, the committed people of the society and NGOs should extend cooperation to the State Government to deal with the problem of drug abuse.
The CM claimed that Sirsa marathon was the largest marathon organised as a part of Run for Unity programme across the country. He said that this marathon would be able to get place in Limca Book of Records and Guinness World Records. He appreciated the efforts made by the District and Police Administrations which have encouraged more than 90,000 people of 328 villages of the district to fight against drug abuse.