Make Andhra Pradesh A Narcotics-free State, CM YS Jagan To SEB Officials

Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the police and excise department officials to work towards making Andhra Pradesh a narcotics-free State. During a review meeting on the Excise and Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) held here on Monday, he said that apart from narcotics, the police department should pay special attention to curbing illicit liquor completely.
He also stressed the need for improving the performance of women police personnel at secretariats in a more coordinated way to ensure the effective functioning of Disha Act and App. Mock drills should be conducted on the usage of Disha app, calls, and quick response, he said.
There should be two meetings to review the progress: Higher officials in the police department should meet on every Thursday to conduct a video conference with the district SPs, narcotics, illicit liquor, coordination with women police of secretariats, Disha Act, app to review the progress regularly. Besides that, focus should be laid by the officials on improving the performance of 15,000 women police and ensuring the implementation of Disha Act more effectively. He also underlined the need to increase the number of people downloading Disha app.
The police department should work more collaboratively with the Excise and SEB officials in making the state narcotics-free. For this a coordination meeting should be held every Tuesday to review the measures taken by the SEB and Excise authorities in controlling illegal liquor and curb the cultivation of ganja. Along with SEB toll-free number: 14500, large hoardings should be erected at all colleges and universities within a month to control narcotics usage among students, he said.
All the universities and colleges in the state should have zero narcotics. That should be the aim of the respective departments. Stressing on the need of conducting ‘Operation Parivartana’ in an effective manner, he said that alternative ways of employment like agriculture and dairy farming should be encouraged among the ganja cultivators to curb the ganja menace in the state. Whether it is about illegal liquor, consumption of liquor in public places, or selling sand at high prices, SEB officials should respond immediately to the complaint and initiate necessary action, he said. The role of SEB is not only limited to liquor it should also strictly deal with narcotics, ganja, gutka, etc., by making the best use of local intelligence (surveillance). Awards should be achieved by the department for its best practices. Nowhere in the country, women police are appointed in the secretariats except in Andhra Pradesh. Services of women police should be fully utilised for achieving desired results and setting a benchmark in the country.
The Chief Minister also said that 1.15 lakh families in the state have been given Recognition of Forest Rights (RoFR) certificates for 2.82 lakh acres and directed the officials to give a report on the measures taken in relation to the development of those lands. During the meeting, the officials explained to him about the sale of liquor in the state, steps taken to control illegal liquor, destruction of ganja cultivation, and measures taken against the growers and registration of cases. Deputy Chief Minister (Excise) K Narayana Swamy, Home Minister Taneti Vanitha, DGP KV Rajendranath Reddy, Special Chief Secretary (Revenue) Rajath Bhargava, Excise Commissioner Vivek Yadav, SEB Commissioner A Ravi Shankar, SEB Director Ramesh Reddy, and other officials were also present.