KOCHI: Twelve years ago, a worried mother from Vypeen walked into a government guest house carrying concerns that drug abuse was spreading among children. On Thursday, the same woman, Mini Antony of Vypeen, was honoured as the first ‘Toofan Warrior’ at the inauguration of the constituency-level campaign programmes for the second phase of ‘Operation Toofan’ in Ernakulam.
The emotional moment came when Mini arrived on the stage during the home minister’s constituency-level inauguration of the programme at St Teresa’s College.
Recalling her role in bringing the issue of drug abuse among children to the government’s attention more than a decade ago, Chennithala raised her hand before the audience and declared her the first ‘Toofan Warrior’.
“Twelve years ago, Mini came to me deeply concerned about the growing threat of drug abuse among children. Her courage in raising the issue led us to launch the Clean Campus, Safe Campus initiative in 2014. I mentioned her in every anti-narcotics campaign since then, and now the initiative launched in 2014 has evolved into Operation Toofan,” Chennithala said.
Speaking to TNIE, Mini recounted the incident that changed her life. “I began noticing worrying changes among some children in my neighbourhood and became concerned that drug abuse was spreading. I felt that someone had to speak up,” she said.
Her concerns deepened when she came across information suggesting that narcotics were reaching children. Despite approaching the police with her concerns, she said no immediate action followed. “But I was frightened because I felt drug abuse was spreading among children,” she said.
Following that, Mini, accompanied, by her husband and daughter, sought an appointment with then home minister Ramesh Chennithala.
“I told him that drugs were becoming widespread among children and that I was deeply worried,” she recalled.
The complaint eventually led to the launch of the ‘Clean Campus, Safe Campus’ initiative by the government, one of Kerala’s earliest organised campaigns against drug abuse in educational institutions.
Honouring her contribution, Chennithala said that ordinary citizens who alert authorities about the menace of drugs are the real warriors in the fight against narcotics.
During the inauguration of the constituency-level campaign for the second phase of ‘Operation Toofan’ in Ernakulam, Chennithala said Kerala’s youth should never become victims of narcotics.
He also stressed the need to make Kochi’s nightlife safer. “Kochi must become a city that is safe 24x7. The police will stand guard to ensure an active and responsible nightlife,” he said, adding that special instructions had been issued to the Kochi city police commissioner.