The police have been given full freedom to enter any campus or hostels without prior permission as part of conducting searches to trace narcotic substances, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has said.
He was speaking after inaugurating a district-level programme of the ‘Clean Campus, Safe Campus’ project at Gujarati Hall here on Thursday.
Mr. Chennithala said the incidents in which drug-peddlers were netted on the premises of educational institutions and other pockets witnessed an increase after the new order. ‘Since the launch of the clean campus project, the police conducted 28,761 searches and registered 6,100 cases, which show the efficacy of the programme,” he said.
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Explaining the official figures further, the Home Minister said 5,957 persons had already been nabbed as part of the police action initiated under the drive. “This was one of the highest figures ever recorded in Kerala within a short span,” he said.
Rehabilitation
The Minister said the police were keen on giving proper rehabilitation support to all children who were found addicted to drugs. “So far, we have identified 80 children in Kerala and all of them are undergoing proper treatment,” he said.
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According to Mr. Chennithala, the Home Ministry had already made it stance clear against the hosting of drug parties and other similar gatherings meant to promote drug abuse among youth. “Legal actions so far taken by the police against such attempts have cracked the main networks of drug peddlers,” he said.
Referring to the attempts to promote drug consumption in the name of tourism, the Home Minister said the government would never endorse any such move. “In the name of promoting tourism, we will never let anyone to cash in on the drug trade,” he said.
Minister for Panchayats M.K. Muneer presided over the function. Additional Director General of Police (North Zone) N. Shanker Reddy, District Collector C.A. Latha, and City Police Commissioner A.V. George were present.