Rs 10 crore cash seized in Telangana during searches ahead of polls

Hyderabad, March 21 (IANS) Police in Telangana have so far seized Rs 10 crore cash in the run-up to May 13 Lok Sabha elections in the state while the Command and Control Centre of the Police Department in Hyderabad has been directed to monitor the transportation of liquor through CCTVs.

The police have also seized unlicensed weapons, explosives, gelatine sticks and gold during the searches conducted so far.

This was revealed during a meeting held by Chief Secretary Shanti Kumari with departments of various officials on the implementation of the model code of conduct.

She asked them to work in coordination to effectively implement the model code of conduct in the wake of the Lok Sabha elections.

Senior officers of Police, Excise, Commercial Taxes, Forest, Revenue, Transport and other departments participated in this meeting. The Chief Secretary asked the officials to work more efficiently in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with the same spirit as they did in the recently held Legislative Assembly elections.

Officials informed that In addition to setting up special check posts on the border states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, effective surveillance has been stepped up in coordination with the check posts of the neighbouring states. Special control rooms have been set up by all major departments for the conduct of elections and the implementation of the code of conduct.

Check posts have been set up by various departments in the state. Of these, there are 444 check posts by the police department and nine inter-state check-posts. Fifteen check posts and 52 enforcement teams have been set up by the transport department. These check posts will work round the clock. During the inspections carried out by the transport department teams, Rs 34.31 lakh was seized.

Sixteen inter-state check posts have been set up by the Commercial Taxes Department and special monitoring is being done at 31 strategic points. Additionally, 25 godowns where there is a possibility to distribute freebies to entice the voters have been identified and special vigilance has been kept on them. A total of 141 manufacturing godowns and 912 trading godowns have also been kept under surveillance.

Similarly, 21 inter-state check posts and six mobile check posts have been set up by the Excise Department and eight districts where there is a possibility of illicit liquor manufacturing have been identified. Five railway lines where there is a possibility of illegal transportation of liquor have been identified and special measures have been taken to prevent them. So far liquor worth Rs 50 lakh has been seized. Likewise, special vigil has been kept on all the distilleries in the state and CCTVs have been installed to monitor the supply of liquor through the distilleries.

As many 65 check posts have also been set up by the Forest Department, of which 18 are inter-state check posts. She said that all the government departments are working in coordination to strictly implement the code of conduct in the state.

DGP Ravi Gupta, Special Chief Secretary Excise and Commercial Tax Sunil Sharma, PCCF Dobrial, Principal Secretary Home Department Jitender, Additional DG S.K. Jain, Transport Secretary Srinivasa Raju, Commercial Taxes Commissioner T.K. Sridevi, Commissioner of Excise Sridhar, Special Commissioner of Information and Communications Hanumantha Rao and others participated.