Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
RISING consumption of drugs by youth of Nagpur has sounded alarm bells in the police department. Alarmed by the menace threatening to ruin young lives, Nagpur Police have planned a severe crackdown on illicit trade and consumption of drugs. After raiding 86 premises across the city and seizing drugs worth Rs 20 lakh in a single day, cops are now preparing the list of clientele of the drug traffickers.
“Once the list is prepared, these ‘customers’ will face action under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act,” informed Commissioner of Police (CP) Amitesh Kumar, on Tuesday, while talking to media.
It may be mentioned that the police, on Monday, carried out a massive drive against drug peddlers by raiding 86 premises across the city in which a total of 130 gm Mephedrone (MD) worth Rs 13 lakh, 133 gm of Charas worth Rs. 7.8 lakh and 2.5 kg Ganja worth Rs. 37,500/- were seized. Total 20 persons were arrested on various charges by police during the action.
Police have credible inputs from their informers that consumption of drugs is booming in the city. People from the upper class are indulging in consumption of MD while middle-class people are consuming Alprazolam medicine and Ganja (marijuana), the inputs revealed. The MD costs around Rs 5,000/- per one gm while Alprazolam and Ganja are available at cheaper rates.
Amitesh Kumar said, cops have extracted some sensitive and vital information about the ‘super rich’ clientele in the city from interrogation of many drug-peddlers cooling heels behind the bars. As per these inputs, a list is being prepared of such people for further action against relevant Acts.
“These customers are ‘super rich’ and regularly purchase drugs from the peddlers. Some girls and women from Nagpur are also their customers,” the CP said and added that drugs were being sold in rave parties, pubs and hookah parlours.
Police are apprehending that new drug-peddlers might emerge in the city given the high demand and rising customers. “Hence, police will zero in on the customers so that the menace does not assume dangerous proportions,” the top cop said.
Police to keep tab on sale of Alprazolam tablets
Consumption of Alprazolam tablets, a psychotropic drug, is also on the rise in the city. The anti-anxiety tablets are available for a meager amount and drug-peddlers are purchasing it from medical stores. “Selling the drug without prescription is a crime. However, some medical stores are doing it. These persons will also face action under NDPS Act,” the CP warned.
Drug trafficking and crime
Drug smuggling was a prime reason behind recent two murders reported in the Pachpaoli police area. The killers were consuming drugs regularly, the CP said. After getting addicted to drug consumption, people can go to any extent, committing thefts and body offences to buy drugs. “This initiative is being taken to save the young generation from consumption of drugs,” Kumar said.
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