KCR's Plan to clip 'Udta Telangana' falls flat

Hyderabad: Though Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao announced an action plan to wipe out the image of 'Udta Telangana' in January and had set up a special Narcotic and Organised Crime Control Cell (Counter Intelligence Cell) with 1,000 policemen, it appears that this cell was yet to make its mark. This cell is supposed to function under the charge of state Director General of Police.

It has been tasked with the responsibility of taking stringent measures to control and eliminate the narcotic drug abuse. The Excise and Prohibition department was also instructed to strengthen the Enforcement department to curb the cannabis (ganja) smuggling from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Top officials said that so far there has been no active involvement of the Control cell in monitoring the drug smuggling from other states and drug peddlers in the city pubs.

The special control cell is supposed to keep a surveillance on the movements of the drug peddlers at the entry level. But it is learnt that at present, there was no round-the- clock official mechanism to monitor the movements of the smugglers nor is there a coordination mechanism with the central agencies like the Narcotic Control Bureau. Officials said that the only special police teams of the police Commissionerate are taking up the task of unearthing drug smugglers based on information from their local sources. The chief minister's proposal to increase the number of check-posts at the state borders, strengthening of communication networks and providing required vehicles to the Excise Enforcement and special cell teams is yet to take shape.