Himachal Pradesh Chief Minster Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday issued direction to officials to crack-down heavily on the drug and mining mafia in the state and also sought reasons for less conviction rate under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
Speaking in a review meeting of State Home department here, the Chief Minister said drugs whether conventional or psychotropic was a serious challenge before the police and a concrete plan was required to nip the drug mafia.
He said that the Police needs to restore and rebuild its image. After few cases of rape and murder in the state during the previous government regime and the way the cases were handled the police earned a bad name.
The Chief Minister said that now with change of the rule, the people were having more expectations from the new government and the police with its community schemes needs to win the lost faith. "Let not the people hesitate to seek help of the police, he said. The police friendly initiatives need to be undertaken," he aded.
Showing concern over the increased deaths due to accidents in the state, Thakur said a plan needs to be formulated for strict traffic rules. Though the interception vans can be deployed on national highways and few other places but the drunken driving and driving while listening to mobiles should be checked upon immediately, he said. Police needs to be strict on these issues and ensure that the traffic rules are obeyed by people, he told the officials.
On women safety issue, Chief Minister said that the safety of women was the utmost priority as well and on January 27, 'Guddia Helpline' and 'Shakti Button Mobile App' would be launched. The shake- up system to ensure that the mobile don’t get disconnected would also be a unique feature of the App.
He said that Himachal Pradesh would be the first state to launch 112, a toll free number for emergency, ambulance, fire and police. The government of India had issued directions in this regard to the states to make it operational.
It was informed in the meeting that under the 100 days target efforts will be made to start polygraph test in the state. It was also decided to make all fire hydrants operational The Chief Minister said that the municipal Corporation and IPH department should work in close co-ordination in this regard. Also find out as to what could be done if separate water connections for hydrants were required, said he.
It was also disclosed in the meeting that Himachal Pradesh is the first state to provide mobile tablets in all police stations under Road Accident Data Management System (RADMS) and state was second in rank in the country for passport verification system.
It was also decided that under the Student Police Cadet Scheme of Government of India, 60 schools will be covered in a phased manner with five schools from each district.
Chief Secretary Vineet Chawdhry, Director General of Police SR Mardi, Additional Chief Secretary Shrikant Baldi, Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Manisha Nanda, Principal Secretary Home Parbodh Saxena, and other senior Police and civil officers were present on the occasion amongst others.
CM directs line departments to gear up for drought like situation.
Presiding over the review meeting on the probability of drought like situation in the State, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that departments like Horticulture, Agriculture, Irrigation and Public Health and Animal Husbandry etc. should gear up and make necessary arrangements well in advance.
He said that besides drinking water problems, there could be acute shortage of fodder for animals as well. Though as predicted by the meteorology department, there was scattered rainfall in the State today, but it seems that the rainfall won't be sufficient to douse jungle flames.
The Chief Minister said that the water supply schemes could be affected if same and the department should explore the possibilities of installing more hand-pumps or be prepared with water tankers if it doesn’t rain or snow enough. "In light of the forecast next month we have to take steps for preparedness and response in order to tackle the present drought like condition,” he said.
The meeting discussed point-by-point details about preparations to meet such an eventuality. The Chief Minister said that the district administration should be prepared for tendering of water tankers in water scarcity areas.
He said that remedial measures should be taken to stop contamination of drinking water at the source and to start with super Chlorination process in the districts to prevent water borne diseases like Jaundice.
Irrigation and Public Health Minister Mahendar Singh Thakur raised up for preparation of contingency plan on drought for fodder, if it doesn’t rain much with stakeholder departments.
He said that agriculture and horticulture sectors have been slightly affected due to deficient rainfall in districts like Chamba, Shimla, Solan, Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Una and Sirmaur.
He directed that the IPH department should do regular sample quality testing of water and the Deputy Commissioner should ensure that the water quality testing may be done randomly per week upto the sub- division level.
Chief Secretary Vineet Chawdhry said that the deputy commissioners should submit the demands of the fund at the earliest, so that the funds can be allocated well in time.
As a preparedness measure the departments should prepare the inventory pertaining to fodder, food grains, cattle, health related facilities, relief works, water etc, said Chawdhry.