Khatkar Kalan (Nawanshahr), Mar 23 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today paid tributes to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on their martyrdom day with a vow to empower the youth and launched the Drug Abuse Prevention Officers (DAPO) programme to wipe out the menace of drugs from the state.
He said that the DAPO programme, marking the Youth Empowerment Day, will involve dedicated volunteers to work in their localities in coordination with the local administration, police and STF in the anti-drug drive.
On the occasion during a state level function here, as part of a state-wide oath-taking ceremony, Amarinder took the DAPO oath, and also administered it to other volunteers, thanking them for joining his government’s efforts to rid the state of the problem of drugs.
The state cabinet ministers simultaneously administered the DAPO oath to volunteers in various district headquarters.
Leading the campaign, Amarinder became the state’s first DAPO, with STF chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu handing over the DAPO Identity Card to him at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh.
The chief minister then carried the chain forward by presenting a similar card to Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and two citizen volunteers, an official spokesman said here.