Rama Krishna Sangem
New year parties welcoming 2024 in Hyderabad this December 31 night maybe dull and drab. The reason for this is excessive policing by the law enforcement authorities. After new CM Revanth Reddy told the police to crack their whip on drugs and drug peddlers in the city, the cops focus has been enhanced on New Year parties that begin the last few days of December and stretch on for a few more days into January.
As usual, the police close all flyovers, Necklace Road and Outer Ring Road on December 31. But this year, you can see more cops on the roads and more drunk- drive check squads with breath analyzers. This drill will go on till 2 am, by when all streets go asleep. More than the actual crack down of the cops, some Telugu TV news channels have started creating buzz of fear around this.
As a result, most pubs, hotels and event places have either shut their plants of New Year or shifted them indoors, with fewer revelers. This single day clamp down – on December 31 – will anyway not solve the problem of drugs in the city. But, the peddlers and users will find new ways of demand and supply channels. Most New Year revelers are going out of the city – to Goa or AP etc. Finally, we maybe spoiling New Year celebrations in Hyderabad this year.
Whenever there is a change of government, the CMs outline their priorities. For example, late NTR announced liquor prohibition. After that, Chandrababu Naidu talked of total prohibition. We have seen how both these policies had failed miserably. Because, they are not rooted in reality. These ideas are just Utopian or symbolic. Goa and Punjab governments are find it hard to grapple with drug menace. So are many other states in India.
Drugs, a multi faceted menace
Of course, we cannot find fault with either CM Revanth or the City police commissioner K Srinivas Reddy, for spoiling new year parties in Telangana. Drugs or excessive boozing is a real problem – social, health and law and order problem. But, the way our government or police dealing with it may not provide a solution to the problem. Moreover, those who are involved in it – both dealers and handlers – will only find alternative methods to survive the cops.
Now what happens is police arresting many more people, sometimes innocents too, to show that they are working hard. Those who are involved in the drug business or usage may go underground, for sometime. But the actual problem will not go. It will persist. In different ways and at different levels. For that a multi-pronged strategy is required. Besides tough policing, we need social and health wise solutions to the drugs.
First and foremost, supply chins must be identified and crushed at source. Next, those who are profiting should be caught and punished. Third and lastly, the victims should be rehabilitated, educated and cured. Instead of arresting small fish, mostly jobless and poor youth, the police must be after the big shots or king pins who make crores of rupees out of this dark trade.
At the same time, our police must sharpen their intelligence skills. They should be able to find out where and how the drugs are reaching the markets. Who are the actual suppliers and peddlers. Publishing names of youth who use them or who attend the rave parties is not a solution. At the best such youth may further suffer from depression or social humiliation. Unemployment too is a cause of alcoholism or drugs problem. We should not forget it.
Blanket crushing of all New Year parties is not at all a solution to the drugs problem.
