Bhubaneswar: Drugs and crime are two sides of the same coin and it is imperative for the younger generation not only to keep away from narcotics but also battle the menace for the betterment of society, said Twin City Commissioner of Police, Soumendra Priyadarshi, here on Monday.
“Narcotic substances have been ruining families and derailing the society. It is for the youth to fight this menace to safeguard the society,” said Priyadarshi while speaking at a seminar on ‘Youth for Drug Free Society: Challenges and Perspectives’ at Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) Deemed to be University here.
Priyadarshi said police had arrested 303 persons in connection with crimes in recent months which included loot and snatching in Bhubaneswar. Of them, 128 were found to be drug addicts and most of them lived in the slums, he said.
The seminar was organised at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS),
SOA’s faculty of agricultural sciences, in collaboration with the
Commissionerate Police and De-addiction, Reformation and Entrepreneurial
Assistance for Making a Safe Society (Dreams) Mission.
Stating that Commissionerate Police and Dreams Mission worked jointly for the last two months against drug menace in the twin cities, Priyadarshi upon the students of SOA to actively participate in the campaign against drugs.
Bhubaneswar DCP Uma Shankar Dash said everyone should join the battle against narcotics to make the society crime free.
SOA’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Prof. Suvendu Narayan Mishra of Department of Psychiatry in IMS and SUM Hospital; Dr. Hara Prasanna Das, Chairman, Manaba Adhyayana Kendra and Dr. Paresh Chandra Mohanty, Director of Talent Stigma, also attended.
A slogan writing competition, held to mark the occasion, was won by SOA
Community Radio 90.4. The slogan was written by RJ Subhrasima Mohanty.
Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, SOA’s Dean (Students’ Welfare) and Prof. Bijay Kumar Sahoo, Dean of IAS also spoke.
