Hyderabad: The Excise and Prohibition department has formed special teams to prevent the sale of narcotics like Ganja and bhang in the city in view of the upcoming festival of Holi.
After achieving the goal of ‘Gudamba-free Hyderabad’ after a one-and-half-year exercise from March 2015 to September 2016, the gudamba manufacturers have now turned into ganja peddlers and it has become an uphill task for the excise department to control the supply of ganja from various places into city.
As per the estimations of the Telangana excise department, 25 per cent of ganja is being supplied from Alampur, Warangal and from the surrounding villages and tandas of Narayan Khed. The remaining 75 per cent is being supplied from agencies in Visakha rural areas like Araku, Chodavaram, etc. The sources of transportation are both rail and the road ways.
So far, the excise department has registered 13 cases from January this year to date against the ganja peddlers and has arrested 28 people from Dhoolpet, of which three were detained for one year under the Preventive Detention Act. Similarly, the Task Force police in the city have seized more than 100 kg of ganja from peddlers in the last two months and have shut down a ganja cultivation unit in a flat in Golkonda two months back.
Excise officials say that the demand for both the dry and fresh ganja will be more during Holi and they have formed special teams to nab ganja suppliers and dealers. While dry ganja is a readymade narcotic which is consumed in the form of sweets and chocolates and smoked in cigarettes, fresh ganja is an essential ingredient for the preparation of the special drink bhang which is in demand during the festival.
