GUNTUR: In order to reduce the crime rate and prevent the nuisance created by the boozers, Guntur district police have been conducting special drives to curb alcohol consumption in public places. In order to make the city crime-free, the initiative of the Guntur police to adopt selected colonies in the city, where the crime rate was high, proved fruitful. As part of it, Superintendent of Police Arif Hafeez himself conducted a ground-level survey to identify the basic issues in the colonies.
After receiving several complaints from public, the police increased patrolling and set up CCTV cameras and street lights to deter people from consuming alcohol in open spaces. They also laid fences in vacant lands to prevent people from gathering there and carrying out any illegal activities.
Under the instructions of SP Arif Hafeez, in the past month, the police filed over 2,215 cases and arrested 2,379 people for consuming alcohol in open spaces and causing severe inconvenience to the public. Along with this, the police have also intensified night patrolling, footpath patrolling, and temple checking to prevent any illegal activities.
“Alcohol addiction has been proven to be a major reason behind several crimes, causing misunderstandings among family members, and financial issues which eventually force people into committing crimes like robberies, and murders. So the police have been conducting special drives to identify those who are consuming alcohol in public places under all police station limits across the district and cases are being filed under Town Nuisance Act and IPC sections. As a result, the crime rate and the number of road accidents have decreased significantly,” said SP Arif Hafeez.
Along with this, Special Enforcement Bureau sleuths are also conducting rides to prevent peddling of ganja, illegal transportation of sand, and other illegal activities. The officials have booked as many as 109 ganja cases against 267 people in the past year and seized 330 kg of dry ganja, three litres of liquid ganja and 34 gram of MDMA. In the past one week, the police imposed PD Act on as many as four for conducting illegal activities.