Himachal forms board to tackle drug menace

The state government has constituted a board to tackle the drug menace under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, an official spokesperson said here on Tuesday. The Himachal Pradesh Nasha Nivaran Board will coordinate between various agencies of the state and suggest ways and means to tackle the menace of inter-state drug trafficking, production and distribution within the state, he added.

It will have the chief secretary, administrative secretaries of the department of home, excise and taxation, revenue, forests, social justice and empowerment, agriculture, health and education and the Director General of Police as members. The commissioner of state taxes and excise will be its member secretary, the spokesperson said.

Journalists Ashwani Sharma, Prakash Bhardwaj, Birbal Sharma and Bhanu P Lohumi, Arjuna Award recipient DSP Ajay Sharma, retired additional commissioner (excise and taxation) Sanjay Bhardwaj, former IGMC principal Dr Ravi Sharma and Shriram Hospital CEO Ankur Chauhan will be its non-official members, he added. Om Prakash, former superintendent of the Narcotics Control Bureau, Chandigarh, has been appointed the convener-cum-adviser of the board.

The tenure of the convener-cum-adviser and non-official members will be two years and the headquarter of the board will be at Shimla, the spokesperson added.