Say no to drugs, CM tells youth

DEHRADUN: Over 5,000 youngsters and sportspersons from across the state were in the city on Sunday to participate in the first of its kind youth festival at Astley Hall area.
Chief minister Harish Rawat also participated along with other sportspersons in a variety of activities like weight-lifting and races, which were carried out early morning in the distance of two kilometres between Astley Hall and Clock Tower.
Speaking on the occasion, CM Rawat asked the youngsters to keep away from drugs. "With reports suggesting that several school and college students are turning into drug-addicts, the youngsters need to say no.”
Rawat added that the state government has also finalized a plan to provide jobs to as many as 30,000 youth in public and private sectors apart from creating avenues for income-generation and self-employment in all 13 districts. He also assured that backlogs and vacancies in state government jobs for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would be filled soon.
“Most welfare-related policies of the government have laid thrust on youth, children and women to boost development activities in the Himalayan state,” said former chief secretary Indu Kumar Pandey.