New Delhi: This Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment implements a “Central Sector Scheme of Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse” under which financial assistance is provided to Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) etc for, inter-alia, running and maintenance of Integrated Rehabilitation Centres for Addicts (IRCAs). An IRCA ordinarily has a 15 bedded facility to cope with the clients at any given time. Centres with bed capacity of 30 and 50 are also sanctioned in special cases on recommendation of the States/UTs on the basis of credibility and performance of the NGO during the previous three years. At present 428 Integrated Rehabilitation Centres for Addicts (IRCAs) are supported by this Ministry. The State-wise no. of drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres supported by the Ministry under the Scheme is at annexure. No incidence regarding harassment in any de-addiction centre supported by this Ministry has been reported so far.
The Ministry has started online processing of proposals from the financial year 2014-15 for sanctioning of grant to NGOs under the above Scheme. The online NGO portal of this Ministry has been integrated with the NITI Aayog portal for validation of Unique ID of the NGOs and their PAN details. The proposal of NGO for release of grant in aid are considered in the Ministry only after it is inspected and recommended by the State Government. The Ministry, in addition, has made the following interventions for inspection and improving the functioning of de-addiction centres in the country:
I. Bureau Heads and Divisional Heads in the Ministry have been designated as nodal officers for States/UTs for inspecting the projects.
II. The Ministry designates an NGO of repute with adequate experience and consistently good track record as Regional Resource and Training Centre (RRTC) for each State following the procedure prescribed by it. These RRTCs also carry out inspections and monitoring of IRCAs.
III. A Manual of Minimum Standards has been developed to bring about Standardization and quality control in Services being delivered under the Scheme. The Manual delineates the objects of each activity under the Scheme, the minimum expected inputs and outputs, the responsibilities of each functionaries, the physical environment of the centre, the rights of the clients and duties of the staff.
IV. The National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), an autonomous body under this Ministry has initiated the process of accreditation of IRCAs on pilot basis through National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health Care Providers (NABH).
V. Issued a detailed advisory on 11.8.2016 to all the States/UTs for combating drug abuse which, inter-alia, includes devising Action Plan to tackle the problem of drug abuse and for monitoring and inspection of all de-addicting centres annually.
This information was given by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Vijay Sampla in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
