Need cooperation of states to fight drugs
Hyderabad is no doubt on the fast track to development, but it is paying a heavy price for it. As the city buzzes with industries, including the booming IT sector and the thriving Tollywood, it is no wonder that drugs are making an insidious entry, enticing the offspring of the rich and influential. Not a day passes without authorities seizing ganja, hash oil and other psychotropic substances. To cap it all, a B.Tech student died of a drug overdose in Hyderabad recently.
On the night of April 2, the Telugu New Year’s Day, the police unknowingly opened a can of worms when they raided a posh pub at a luxury hotel in Banjara Hills. In their raid, they rounded up about 150 youths and the next morning, all of them were let off. Those who were rounded up included the children of Tollywood heroes, a few IPS officers, politicians and businessmen. No samples were taken from any one of them and no tests were done. They were all pronounced innocent which led to criticism that the police let them off because they were from affluent and powerful sections. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, an ally of the TRS, found fault with the police on this count.
The raid on the pub has a familiar ring. In a crackdown on Tollywood in 2017, the excise department had summoned all its suspects to its office, recorded their statements and took their samples. But the investigation did not move further as all of them were declared innocent because they were victims of the drug trade and therefore not guilty. Raids on pubs and bars are only like administering a band-aid. There cannot be real progress unless the police strike at the roots, the sources of supply. It is possible only with the cooperation of the states from where the contraband arrives. Ganja, for instance, comes from AP and cocaine from Goa and Mumbai. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, at a meeting of the Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) in December last year, stressed the need for better coordination among the enforcement agencies since drugs are a threat to national security. Not much has happened thereafter. He should know that actions speak louder than words.