Himachal Govt. plans crackdown on drugs: CM sets 6 months deadline to dismantle drugs network

No drug traffickers to be spared: CM

SHIMLA-1^st March, 2025-Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has directed the Police Department to initiate a massive crackdown to dismantle the drug network in the State in a mission mode for the next six months. While presiding over a high level meeting of senior officers of Police and other departments here today, the Chief Minister instructed to take stringent action against the drug peddlers and categorically stated that no one involved in the drug trade will be spared. Taking a firm stand against the drug traffickers, Shri Sukhu also ordered strict action against the government employees found involved in such illegal activities. He said, "Government employees against whom concrete evidences of drug smuggling has been found will be terminated from the service."

Sh. Sukhu emphasized on implementing the PIT-NDPS Act in letter and spirit to ensure stern action against the drug peddlers. He asked the officers, "Why is there delay in processing the PIT-NDPS cases. Review all the cases within one week and dispose of them." He said that the present State Government has adopted zero tolerance policy against drug menace. He said that the properties of the drug peddlers and their associates must be attached and directed the Police Department to investigate the bank accounts of the suspects. He said that Anti Narcotics Task Force would be strengthened and additionally, a Special Task Force would also be notified to combat the drug menace headed by a senior police officer.

Reiterating his commitment to secure the future of the youth and eradicating the drug abuse from the State, the Chief Minister said that he will personally monitor the anti-drug campaign on a regular basis. He also instructed the Police Department to conduct mapping of drug peddlers and victims upto the panchayat level and submit the report by 15^th March, 2025.He said that Panchayat representatives and Nambardars would also be roped in to combat this menace. He asked the senior Police Officers to ensure stern action against the police officers who are reluctant to register cases in drug trafficking. He further directed the police officers to take all the NDPS cases to its logical end and conduct a vigorous forward and backward linkage of the cases to uproot the entire drug network.

The Chief Minister said that the state Government would make efforts to establish Special Courts to fast track the NDPS cases and provisions of Parole strictly. He said that the State Government would introduce HP Anti Drug Act in the upcoming budget session of Vidhan Sabha which will clearly differentiate between the victims and drug peddlers. He said that the State Government is also establishing a state-of-art rehabilitation centre for the victims in Kotla Behar of Sirmaur district.

Sh. Sukhu also directed to enhance the vigilance in Pharma Companies and said that the licenses would be cancelled for those companies who are found involved in illegal sale of psychotropic drugs. He said that FIR would be registered against such companies and renewal of the licenses would not be allowed. He also stressed for launching of a massive awareness campaign against drug abuses in the State so that people could be aware about the ill effects of drugs.

Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena, Additional Chief Secretaries K.K. Pant and Onkar Chand Sharma, Director General of Police Dr. Atul Verma, Director General (CID) S.R. Ojha, Secretary to the Chief Minister Rakesh Kanwar, Secretaries Ashish Singhmar and Rajesh Sharma, Commissioner State Taxes and Excise Dr.Yunus and other senior officers also attended the meeting.

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CM launches ‘Mere Shahar Ke 100 Ratna’ programme to offer free coaching to 6800 students

SHIMLA - 1^st March, 2025-Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today launched the ‘Mere Shahar Ke 100 Ratna’ programme, an initiative aimed at providing free coaching for various competitive examinations to 6,800 students across Himachal Pradesh. Under this programme, CRACK Academy will offer free coaching to 100 meritorious students from each Assembly constituency, with an estimated investment of Rs. 34 crore.

To ensure a fair selection process, tests will be conducted in schools and colleges of each constituency, where students from Class VI and above can participate. The top 100 students from each constituency will receive free coaching while the next 200 students will be given a 75 percent concession and the following 500 students will receive a 50 percent concession. The company will provide handholding of these children until they achieve their goals.

The state government will extend full support to CRACK Academy for the successful implementation of this initiative. While the Academy will prepare the test papers, the Education eepartment will oversee the conduct of examinations.

To raise awareness among students and parents, the Chief Minister also launched a mega awareness campaign. The programme was initially piloted in Jawalamukhi Assembly constituency of Kangra district, where students from 50 schools participated and currently 220 selected students from Jawalamukhi are receiving merit-based coaching under this scheme.

The Chief Minister said “This initiative will not only benefit talented students but also generate employment opportunities in the State. CRACK Academy plans to establish over 90 coaching centers, directly employing 5,000 people while creating additional indirect employment.”

Academy will also invest Rs. 1.5 crore for the renovation and maintenance of the library at Ridge, Shimla. The Chief Minister directed the Academy to preserve the heritage value of the building while equipping it with modern technology to enhance learning facilities for students.

Education Minister Rohit Thakur, Secretary Education Rakesh Kanwar, Director, Higher Education Amarjeet Sharma and Director, Elementary Education Ashish Kohli were also present on the occasion among others.

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National Summit on good and replicable practices held in Puri

SHIMLA -1^st March, 2025-The 9^th National Summit on Good and Replicable Practices and Innovation in the public healthcare system was held on Friday in Puri, Odisha in which various states presented their best practices. The States shared their best practices that improve health care services and other states learn and adopt those best practices.

The Summit was inaugurated by Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.

A team headed by Secretary Health M. Sudha Devi from Himachal Pradesh also participated in the summit. Five major initiatives taken by the government of Himachal Pradesh were selected for this event viz. evidence based scale up of ST-elevated myocardial infarction in Himachal, mainstreaming adolescent health services in the era of universal health coverage through strengthening the adolescent friendly health clinics, implementing “Health-Education Institutes Strategy” and how to achieve tobacco endgame by 2030 in the state. A presentation on HP Tele-Stroke project a decentralized approach was also made by the Secretary Health.

Additional Secretary and Mission Director (NHM), Aradhana Patnaik, Union Health Ministry and other senior officers also attended the National summit.

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SHIMLA -1 March, 2025

Government gives requisition to fill up 937 TGT and 1762 JBT posts

Education Minister Rohit Thakur informed here today that the state government has given requisition to Himachal Pradesh Rajya Chayan Ayog to fill up 937 posts of TGT (Arts, Medical and Non-Medical) on direct recruitment basis. These posts will be filled up on contract basis.

The Minister said that the government has also given requisition to fill up 1295 posts of Junior Basic Trained Teachers (JBTs) through direct recruitment on contract basis. Besides, requisition has also been given to the Ayog to fill up 467 posts which were created by the previous government but remained unfilled. In all, the state government has given requisition to fill up 1762 posts of JBT in the state. He added that the state government has already filled up the vacant posts on batchwise basis.

Rohit Thakur said the government is giving added priority on strengthening quality and equitable and inclusive education to every child in the state. Major reformative measures have been taken to improve the education quality which has started showing encouraging results.

He said the state government is opening Rajiv Gandhi Day-Boarding Schools in a phased manner in every Assembly constituency, where all the modern facilities will be available under one roof, so that students could face the challenges of life with confidence. He added that the state has the highest learning levels and the educational reforms are being made as per the present demand.

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SHIMLA - 1 March, 2025

Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu launches CM Dashboard

• Good Governance is key focus for Government: CM

Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu launched CM Dashboard to monitor the progress and performance of 66 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of 8 departments developed by the Department of Digital Technologies and Governance here today. He said that under this initiative, 8 KPIs of Rural Development, 8 KPIs of Public Works Department, 6 KPIs of Jal Shakti Vibhag, 7 KPIs of Revenue, 4 KPIs of Women and Child Development, 10 KPIs of Education, 5 KPIs of Tribal Development and 18 KPIs of Health Departments have been covered. He said that this step will go a long way in accelerating the pace of development and providing accurate information of the beneficiaries of different departments on one platform. He asked the departments to report accurate data to take precise decisions to ensure welfare of the people. He said that he would personally monitor the progress of various welfare schemes through this Dashboard regularly.

The Chief Minister said that this move of the Government will enhance transparency and accountability in the governance besides streamlining data collection and analysis. He said that this will also reduce the administrative burden on officials. He said that this CM Dashboard had data of above 11 lakh beneficiaries of these departments. He said that all the government departments would be brought under the ambit of CM Dashboard and the number of KPIs would also be enhanced. He said that once this process is complete, Boards and Corporations would also be incorporated on this platform.

The Chief Minister said that the State government is bringing reforms to ensure the welfare of the beneficiaries and modern technology can prove to be a key instrument in addressing the future challenges. He said that the Government was focusing on good governance and the departments must make earnest efforts to provide quality services to the people of the State nearer to their homes.

He also launched the District Good Governance Index on the occasion.

Earlier, he also inaugurated the beautification work of Armsdale Building phase-III.

MLAs Sanjay Awasthy, Suresh Kumar and Ranjeet Singh Rana, Principal Media Advisor to Chief Minister Naresh Chauhan, Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena, Additional Chief Secretaries K.K. Pant and Onkar Chand Sharma and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.