THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a move to put a stop to the growing menace of drug abuse, over one lakh people will come together to form a 18-km-long human chain in Kattakada on Saturday.
The anti-drug movement began on April 16 in the Kattakada Assembly constituency aimed at building people’s resistance against drug use and trafficking.
The human chain will be formed at 4.30 pm from Kundamankadavu to Mandapathinkadavu. Under the leadership of MLA I B Satheesh, residents from all seven panchayats and 22 departments within the constituency will join forces.
In the run-up to the human chain, cultural processions were held across six panchayats in the constituency on May 7 and 8.The campaign began at Mandapathinkadavu, on the banks of Neyyar, under the banner ‘Kattakada against Drugs’ on April 16.
A planning committee meeting was held with participation from elected representatives, cultural, social, and political leaders. MLA I B Satheesh was elected as chairman of the organising committee, Nemom Block Panchayat President S K Preetha as co-chairperson, and NSS State Coordinator Anwar as the convenor. Organizing committees were also formed at the panchayat level.
Around 600 NSS volunteers, spread across 122 wards, conducted door-to-door awareness campaigns, surveys, and promotional activities. Hundreds of children were engaged in cultural programmes held in each ward during the evenings. As a prelude to the human chain, a mass drill and assembly involving around 2,000 students was held at Kandala Stadium on May 2.
Workers from the MGNREGS, various community organisations, religious scholars, resident association members, library staff, and service organisation leaders joined together in a united meeting and pledged their support to the campaign.
The campaign has also drawn the support of noted cultural personalities.
“Development can be truly realised only within a healthy social environment. As a people’s representative, rallying citizens to resist the grave threat of drug abuse, an issue that deeply affects our social life, is as important a responsibility as driving development itself. This people’s human chain is an effort to create awareness so that every citizen takes a firm stand against those who attempt to use or sell drugs, and to reshape development as a collective responsibility,” said MLA I B Satheesh.