CHENNAI: More than one crore students from 14,000 schools and 4,900 colleges across Tamil Nadu took an anti-drug pledge administered by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay as part of a State-wide campaign on Tuesday.
The pledge was administered to 2,000 students from 73 educational institutions at Presidency College Auditorium in Chennai and streamed to educational institutions across the State.
Chief Minister Vijay also launched the 'Drug and Tobacco Free Campus' initiative, under which institutions will orient new students on drug abuse, legal penalties, and counselling options. Anti-Drug Clubs will be strengthened, with peer ambassadors trained to identify early behavioural changes and support students.
The initiative also provides for annual health and psychological evaluations, confidential testing where required, independent counselling, and CCTV surveillance on campuses. Areas within 100 metres of educational institutions will be declared ‘No-Tobacco Zones’, with the police and Food Safety Department officials inspecting shops in these areas.
During the event, the Chief Minister witnessed the destruction of seized narcotics at Chengalpattu, Thanjavur, Coimbatore, and Tirunelveli, through video conferencing. About one lakh kg of ganja and banned tobacco products were destroyed.
Vijay also presented the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Police Medal to 15 police personnel for their contribution in combating drug production and trafficking. Officials said 10,040 drug cases have been registered against 14,400 accused this year up to August 10. Authorities seized 17,500 kg of dry ganja, 8.9 lakh tablets, and 200 kg of other narcotic substances.
Another 13,150 cases were registered for banned tobacco sales, with 1.61 lakh kg seized. Fines totalling Rs 8.3 crore were collected and 2,744 commercial premises sealed.