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Rishiraj Singh sets anti-narcotic ball rolling in Alappuzha

Excise commissioner calls meet on Saturday to chalk out plans to do away with drug mafia

Alappuzha: With Rishiraj Singh assuming charge as Excise commissioner, Alappuzha district, one of the worst-hit districts by drug and Ganja mafia in the state, sections hope that this social menace would be wiped out from schools. The new Excise commissioner has called a meeting on June 18 to chalk out plans to do away with the mafia.

According to Excise officials, the Commissioner will meet students in schools to make them aware of the disadvantages of drug usage and how they could help in giving information about the network of the cannabis mafia in their surroundings. The new roadmap will be formulated after getting suggestions from students, teachers, social activists and parents.

Alappuzha district which has been gripped by the drug trade for some years, has touched alarming levels in the last couple of years after the ban on tobacco products. Most of the drug mafias in the district, which are active with the support of inter-state outfits, are mainly targeting school and college students.

Kayamkulam and Aroor have of late emerged as the hotspot of the ganja mafia. Former Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said that under the Clean Campus and Safe Campus programme, 47,979 raids were carried out and 13,334 cases were registered since May 30, 2014. However, the ganja trade in schools remained unabated. “A total of 12,946 people were arrested for selling brown sugar, hashish, ganja, etc,” he said.

Suresh Richard, Deputy Excise Commissioner said that for the last three months, 87 cases including four cases of cannabis cultivation and 90 cases for illegal possession of tobacco products were registered in the district under the NDPS Act. He said they were unable to pinpoint the reasons for ganja cases growing every month, and therefore had set up active squads to get information.

But he added that ganja users were being caught across different ages. According to the Narcotic cell here, “Taking advantage of the relaxation in law which restricts police and the Excise to register non-bailable offences against a person caught with less than one kilo ganja, drug peddlers make it in small 100g packets, and easily get away with mild punishment”.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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