This is a time of resolutions, of new hopes and a new dawn—individually and collectively—across the world. Telangana, too, is stepping into 2025 on a celebratory and auspicious note. The celebrations began not with fireworks and parties this time, but with an appeal from superstar Prabhas to the people to ‘say no to drugs’. In the normal course, it may sound like a regular do-good message from a celebrity. But drugs have been a big menace in Hyderabad in particular and the two Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in general.
The 2024 statistics tell us quite a story for Telangana, though it is just the tip of an iceberg in the making. The anti-narcotics bureau and the police apprehended 4,682 people in 1,942 cases of trafficking and seized drugs worth over Rs 142 crore. What is heartening is the conviction rate in such cases, which almost doubled over 2023. The Congress government headed by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has made it one of its top priorities to take the menace, especially in the glitzy metropolis of Hyderabad, head on. It has been deploying surveillance technologies and established seven regional narcotics control cells and four dedicated police stations, along with crafting educative awareness programmes.
It must also be appreciated for setting up labs to help investigate the cases, deploying over 200 canines and partnering with educational institutions to open thousands of anti-drug committees. For an outsider, it may not appear as if we have that big a problem. But prevention is better than cure, as many crimes in recent years have been traced to drug-induced episodes.
Hence, the film fraternity coming out—with none other than Prabhas, the larger-than-life Baahubali hero, taking the lead—is laudable. It comes in the backdrop of an unfortunate incident of stampede at the screening of a benefit show of Allu Arjun-starrer Pushpa 2, which initially led some sections to fear that the government was on a collision course with Tollywood. The recent meeting between the chief minister and a delegation from Tollywood put paid to those rumours; the latter clearly took to heart the appeal from the former to help curb the drug problem. Coming on New Year’s eve, we hope those making resolutions of their own will also take the efforts of the government, enforcement agencies and Tollywood in the right spirit.