Bhubaneswar police DREAMS to combat drug abuse for safe city

BHUBANESWAR: The commissionerate police has decided to launch an intervention programme to combat drug menace in the capital city. Under the aegis of ‘deaddiction, reformation, and entrepreneurial assistance for making a safe society’ (DREAMS), the police want to reform drug addicts, mostly those who are involved in crimes.
“We will hire an umbrella agency, whose job will be to bring the drug addicts back to normalcy. With the help of police, the agency will identify drug addicts, facilitate their treatment in deaddiction centres, arrange counselling sessions for them and help the de-addicted persons in getting employment,” deputy commissioner of police Uma Shankar Dash told TOI.
A request for proposal (RFP) has been invited from eligible agencies and NGOs to execute the Dreams. The Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) has agreed to fund the initiative through its CSR, police said.
“We found that most of the drug addicts, who are habitual offenders involved in snatching theft and robbery cases, live in slums. After coming out on bail, they have been committing crimes. We will create their database. After taking consent of their parents and family members, we will include them under Dreams. We will also organise awareness camps in slums where drug abuse is usually reported,” another police officer said.
This is the third such initiative launched here against drug abuse in the last few months. The police earlier rolled out Basti Ku Chala and Operation White Spider to prevent drug menace and street crimes. The police issued a dedicated WhatsApp number 7077798111 to receive drug-related information from the public. Dreams, Basti Ku Chala and Operation White Spider will reinforce each other.
Frequent seizures of brown sugar in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack left the cops on their toes. Notwithstanding the consistent crackdowns by the police, the smugglers continue to peddle the narcotic substance in the capital city and its neighbouring Cuttack.
The commissionerate police have seized around 4.2 kg of brown sugar worth around Rs 4 crore in Cuttack and over 2 kg of brown sugar worth about Rs 2 crore in Bhubaneswar in the last seven months. Sources said the seizures would be nearly 60% more than the substance seized during the same period last year.
Inspired By