[ Indu Chukhu ]
RONO HILLS, 17 May: Eighteen-year-old Nani Hapa,who recently cleared his Class 12 examination from Delhi Public School, Guwahati is on a running campaign to createawareness on drug abuse.
He will be running under the banner of the Apatani Youth Association (AYA), a youth body of the Apatani community. He will start running from Rajiv Gandhi University here, and his run will culminate at the AYA office in Lower Subansiri headquarters Ziro, covering a distance of 85 kilometres.
He will start his run at 4 am on Sunday, and is estimated to reach Ziro by 8 pm.
Hapa will be running solo, followed by a four-membercrew, comprising his childhood friends Nitin Das, Parsuram Chetry and Techi Elvis, and driver Dilip Ahmed. Live videos of his run will be updated every hour on social media. One can watch the video updates and the live run at hapanani7 on Instagram and Facebook.
Hapa said: “I have seen my friends getting addicted to drugs and how it has hugely impacted many others – their families and loved ones. When I started an awareness campaign on rabies vaccination and animal birth control earlier, many people supported the cause and it got good responses, but maybe people and their families have not experienced drug-related issues in their lives, so this time comparatively the input is less,” he said.
“My focus is on the youths, and that is why I have decided to give my updates using social media platforms such as Instagram mainly, and Facebook,” he said. “I want to raise issues concerning youths and do it one step at a time.”
He said he has deep concern for the future of the state’s youths and will do whatever he can in his capacity. “Drug abuse is a major issue and it is directly affecting our society,” Hapa said.
This is Hapa’s third social campaign. Earlier, in March 2024, Hapa along with 13 others had undertaken a bicycleride from O Point in Itanagar to Gohpur in Assam and later to RGU, covering a distance of 97 kms.
In July 2024, Nani cycled solo from Guwahati to Dimapaur (Nagaland) during his summer break and helped in raising funds for a Guwahati-based NGO called Public Merit.
