Drug menace threatening vulnerable children in border areas
Drug menace threatening vulnerable children in border areas
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Sept 9
The growing drug menace in this border district is increasingly threatening vulnerable children, with a recent case highlighting how children without parental care can gradually fall prey to substance abuse.
The gravity of the situation came to light last week when the District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) came across a family in which the mother had died in 2015 and the father was subsequently jailed for a criminal offence, leaving their three children without parental care. According to the CWC, the children gradually became vulnerable to drug addiction and other forms of exploitation.
District Child Welfare Committee chairperson Laxman Singh Khati said the eldest, a 17-year-old girl, had already fallen into drug addiction.
“When we were informed about the family, where the children were living without their parents, our team found that the eldest, a 17-year-old girl, had become addicted to drugs. She had also started associating with drug-addicted boys while searching for drugs and other intoxicating substances,” Khati said.
He said the girl was traced with the help of the police and placed at a One Stop Centre, while efforts were being made to send her to a de-addiction and rehabilitation centre in New Delhi for treatment.
Asked about the other two children, Khati said the CWC had also taken them under its protection. The 15-year-old girl has been sent to a government children’s home in Almora, where she will receive protection and continue her education. The 13-year-old boy has been placed in the committee’s protection home in Pithoragarh, where arrangements have been made for his care as well as continuation of his education.
“The District Child Welfare Committee is making efforts to protect orphaned and vulnerable children in the district. We are taking the help of various institutions working for the welfare and rehabilitation of children in Pithoragarh and other parts of the state,” Khati said.
