Unearthing the operation of a “drug mafia” in the twin cities has come as a wake-up call for various authorities, especially the law-enforcing agencies and the managements of private educational institutions, to view the situation seriously and take all measures on top priority to curb the menace before it goes out of hand.
Telangana Director-General of Police Anurag Sharma here on Friday convened a meeting of all the police commissioners and other senior officials, including the Excise and Intelligence wings, to take stock of the situation in the wake of serious concerns being expressed by the parents of students as the drug mafia was reportedly targeting educational institutions for prospective ‘clientele”.
Addressing them, the DGP advised the police commissioners to form special cells in their jurisdictions and firmly deal with the drug peddlers. In this regard, he wanted that police stations under whose jurisdictions the schools and colleges are functioning to keep an eye on any suspicious activities in the vicinity of the institutions. Petty shop keepers, vendors of nick knacks near the educational institutions should also be closely watched, the DGP advised.
Anurag Sharma also stressed the need for the police stations to take the assistance of local intelligence officers in gathering various inputs regarding notorious characters, who might be operating as dealers of the drug peddlers. He made it amply clear to the officers that it was imperative to unearth the “source” of the drug supply to the peddlers. For this, he wanted a close watch on the pubs and hookah joints being frequented by the students and youth besides IT professionals of MNCs.
In the meantime, with reports circulating that college students, especially those from engineering colleges, have been the regular customers of the drug peddlers, the Vice-Chancellors of all the Universities in the Telangana State held a high-level conference under the aegis of State Council of Higher Education to discuss the alarming issue of drug abuse in educational institutions. After a detailed discussion on the issue, the meeting of the VCs has decided to constitute an Anti-Drug Committee, which would act as a watchdog to monitor regularly the implementations of various preventive steps to be taken in all the colleges, including private colleges. The Principals of various colleges would form part of the committee.
Prof. Papireddy, Chairman of the State Council of Higher Education, said one of the measures to be taken up on priority basis was installation CCTV cameras on the premise of the colleges. These would be installed at strategic points in the college buildings. While the authorities of the educational institutions would initiate all the required measures to check the drug menace, he also stressed the importance and need for parents to keep a close watch on their wards and monitor their activities. (NSS)