Shillong, Aug 27: Meghalaya has witnessed an alarming increase of drug users from 2 lakh to 3 lakh even as the state government has earmarked Rs 50 crore to combat the trafficking of drugs and setting up of more rehabilitation centres in the state.

Informing this in his reply during the Assembly, Social Welfare Minister, Paul Lyngdoh, said, “As far as the latest survey (is concerned), there would be roughly 3 lakh drug addicts in the state.”

“Since the launch of the Drug Reduction, Elimination and Action Mission (DREAM), the state government has earmarked Rs 50 crore to combat the menace of drug trafficking,” he said.

Lyngdoh also informed that under the DREAM, the state government has also moved for the creation of more deaddiction centres throughout the state.

“As of today, except for East Khasi Hills district, the rest of the districts have been identified for setting up of deaddiction centres,” he added.

On the concern expressed by the opposition in regards to Meghalaya getting very less funding from the Centre to combat drug menace, Lyngdoh said, “Personally, I have already managed to establish contacts with the Ministry in Delhi and would be calling on the Minister in-charge as soon as the session is over.”

VPP legislator from Nongkrem, Ardent Basaiawmoit, expressed concern over the issue of drug menace becoming a nightmare for the state and urged the government to take steps to seek more fund from the Centre to tackle the problem.

When Basaiawmoit wanted to know on what basis the government has claimed that the success of tackling the drug menace is around 20 percent, Lyngdoh said it was based on comprehensive collection of data and statistics sourced from both government and private. “It is not a tall claim of the government because it is based on statistics, surveys and researches that have been done,” he added.

Earlier, Lyngdoh informed that there are 10 rehabilitation centres in the state. Of these, six centres are supported by the state government by the Social Welfare department through public private partnership with the expert NGOs.

One centre is centrally aided by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment while three others are privately managed centres.

He said that there are 5 rehabilitation centres in East Khasi Hills District of which 3 are aided by the central government and 1 is privately managed.

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