A concerted effort to make Kattakada free of drugs

Thiruvananthapuram: With an aim to make Kattakada free of drugs, a campaign titled ‘Koottu’ has been launched in the constituency. The initiative is part of Oppam, a project that aims to make Kattakada a women-friendly constituency.
The project, executed with people’s participation, is conducted in association with departments including excise, police, forest, drugs control, education, health, SC/ST, social welfare and child rights. I B Satheesh, MLA, is the chairman of the Koottu and Muhammed Ubaid S, deputy excise commissioner, Thiruvananthapuram is the convener.
According to the representatives, Koottu, which was launched in June, aims to make Kattakada drug-free by October 2, 2020, and is conducted in the model of anti-drugs campaign Vimukthi of the excise department.
Now, the project representatives are in the formation of school-level vigilant committees, comprising students, teachers, PTA members, autorickshaw drivers, arts and sports club members, hospital staff, asha workers, library staff and traders.
In the last two weeks, a team of excise officers visited 10 schools in Kattakada and conducted classes for the committee.
As many as 1,046 people have received OP treatment at the de-addiction centre of the excise department at General Hospital, Neyyattinkara, and over 100 were taken as in-patient in the last six months.
“Considering the increase in drug abuse among students, we have focused on the activity in schools. In some cases, parents are reluctant to inform authorities due to fear when all the necessary support is available to help the child. We want to save the children, while strict action will be taken against people involved in it. People can utilise the facility in the de-addiction centre. Autorickshaw drivers and traders would inform us about these issues,” said Muhammed Ubaid S, deputy excise commissioner, Thiruvananthapuram.