21 drug rehabilitation centres coming up in Punjab: Health Secy

Chandigarh, Sep 3 (PTI) Punjab government today said that 21 rehabilitation centres would be coming up in the state, which is facing drug menace, to bring drug addicts back to the mainstream of society.

"A total of 21 rehabilitation centres comprising of 50 beds each

are coming up in the state for which most of the staff has already

been recruited," Punjab's Health and Family Welfare Principal Secretary

Vini Mahajan said here.

These centres will play a major role in bringing drug addicts to

the mainstream. After de-addiction, the patients are shifted to these

centres where they are given vocational training along with an opportunity

for indoor and outdoor sports activities, Mahajan said.

Also de-addiction and rehabilitation societies have been constituted

in all districts of Punjab under the chairmanship of the concerned

Deputy Commissioners, she said.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had earlier said that his government

was fighting a "war" on drug menace in the state