Control room set up to ensure peaceful polls

Hyderabad: In view of the upcoming elections, the prohibition and excise department has set up a district-level control room that will function round the clock till December 13, deputy commissioner C. Vivekananda Reddy said.

The control room has been set up in the office of the assistant commissioner of prohibition and excise (enforcement), Excise Complex, in Nampally. It will exclusively deal with complaints on excise-related offences to ensure fair and peaceful elections.

Mr Reddy said strict instructions had been given to the officers on the handling of complaints and the redressal mechanism.

“On receipt of a complaint, the officer-in-charge of the control room will forward it to the station house officer and the latter will act upon the same immediately within an hour,” he said.

Field officers were instructed to ensure strict compliance of rules by retail shops, bards, toddy shops and other licensees. They had been instructed to deal with cases of illicit distilling of liquor, illegal storage, transportation and sale of liquor, the sale of ganja and other narcotic drugs with an iron hand.

The constituency-wise excise nodal officers had been instructed to maintain liaison with returning officers, assistant returning officers and other functionaries to attend to excise-related complaints and to prepare relevant reports for submission to the district election officer.

The deputy commissioner said instructions were issued to bind-over all habitual offenders and suspected persons under relevant provisions of the law.