Jammu: Aiming to equip Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)personnel with the required knowledge and skills to decrease drug dependency around them, National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), an ancillary institution of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Kick started awareness workshops on drug abuse prevention in Jammu and Kashmir.

NISD is an ancillary institution of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, will conduct the first workshop at Bantalab area of district Jammu on 18 and 19 February.

After this, more one-day awareness sessions on de-addiction and drug abuse prevention on 19, 20, 24 and 25 February across the state.

“We want to equip the CRPF personnel with the required knowledge and skills to help decrease drug dependency around them. This can be either among their peers or in the communities where they are deployed,” Sijo George, project manager of the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction(NAPDDR) told ThePrint.

The NAPDDR is a national scheme that the government rolledout in 2018 in a bid to reduce the adverse consequences of drug abuse. The NISDis one of the social justice ministry’s bodies implementing the scheme.

“We are creating a pool of CRPF trainers from our 13 battalions deployed. I will be training 5-6 personnel from every battalion andthey will act as trainers in their areas of responsibilities over the next year,” Charu Sinha, IPS, IG, Jammu sector said.

Another reason for training the CRPF personnel is that theywill be used as trainers in schools and colleges in the border areas,especially in Jammu and Kashmir, George said.

Social justice ministry officials believe that since CRPFpersonnel are often exposed to illicit drug traffickers along the borders, this information is very important for them.

The ministry also wants the CRPF personnel to gain the right attitude to deal with addicts to tackle the problem of drug usage in the Valley.

Sinha also highlighted that drug addiction being one of the key issues in the communities in Jammu, the CRPF decided to contribute its bitto help the community and local police in their bid to control drug abuse.