VIJAYAWADA: The five-member Cabinet Subcommittee met at the Secretariat on Wednesday and approved the proposal to rename the Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) as Elite Anti-Narcotic Group for Law Enforcement (EAGLE).
Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha chaired the meeting to review various issues and measures to control ganja smuggling and cultivation.
Besides DGP Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, Intelligence chief Mahesh Chandra Laddha and IG rank officer chief A Ravi Prakash, other members of the panel — Ministers Nara Lokesh (HRD), Kollu Ravindra (Excise), Satya Kumar Yadav (Health) and Gummadi Sandhya Rani (Women and Child Welfare) — attended the meeting. Stating that the government will stop extending schemes to those involved in ganja smuggling and peddling activities, HRD Minister Lokesh explained, “By stopping schemes to those involved in ganja crime, the government hopes to increase chances of achieving the goal of freeing the State from drugs. We will study the modalities in implementing the decision.”
He announced that committees of EAGLE will be formed in schools, colleges, universities and villages to reach out to more public and educate them on the negative effect of marijuana.
Zero tolerance to ganja smuggling and cultivation
Further, Anitha highlighted that the government has chalked out plans for the next six months to adopt a zero tolerance policy towards ganja smuggling and cultivation. She explained that dedicated narcotic cells with adequate staff will be deployed to bust ganja supplying networks as well as to carry out other duties such as counselling addicts, and conducting seminar and public awareness campaigns under the ‘Maha Sankalpam’ programme.
“By sensitising the public on the evil effects of consuming ganja and indulging in the trade, we aim to bring change in youngsters and bust the networks of gangs which are involved in the drug business,” the Home Minister said.
Announcing that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will soon launch EAGLE toll-free number 1972, Anitha added that advanced technologies such as RFID (Radio-frequency identification), tracking system, CCTV monitoring based on Artificial Intelligence, facial recognition, cyber intelligence and criminal profiling will be used to detect the accused and destroy ganja crops as soon as they are traced.
She further said ganja transportation rackets will be destroyed with the help of joint task force teams comprising officials from the revenue, forest and other departments.
Later in the day, DGP Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao convened a meeting with ADGP (Law and Order) Ch Srikanth, Intelligence chief Mahesh Chandra Laddha and other IG rank officials over the formation of EAGLE teams in the districts and commissionerates and discussed their duties.