Hyderabad: Growing ganja menace rings alarm bells in city

Vanasthalipuram: Despite regular crackdown by police on the hideouts of criminals, some of the areas in the city are fast turning into hubs of Ganja menace. There are several spots where people start consuming ganja openly as evening descends. Ganja users are often creating ruckus during nights while people are asleep. There have been several instances where ganja addicts engaged in fights with residents who question them on the nuisance.

Residents of Vanasthalipuram have been fed up with troubles being caused due to open consumption of ganja. They allege that there are many hotspots in areas such as Chintalakunta, Hayathnagar, BN Reddy Nagar, Saheb Nagar, Engineers colony, Arunadaya colony and Vaidehi Nagar.

Deepak Kumar, a resident of Saheb Nagar and member of Vanasthalipuram Residents Welfare Association, said that he had lodged a complaint with police after some smoked hooligans put up a fight with him near his house. He said the criminals got aggressive on him and shattered his house window. "The illegal activity is not being curbed due to the involvement of local leaders. When a complaint was lodged, police asked us to install CCTVs. Patrolling vehicle made rounds for a week and made sure people didn't consume ganja in the locality. But, later the issue resumed once again and the menace has been getting worse day after day," he added.

With easy transportation and availability of ganja in the area, peddlers are finding new ways to sell the illegal produce and residents are scared that their children may get influenced by weed users and fall prey to the deadly cannabis. Women are struck in fear to go out for stroll. "There are some open lands, which are now being used for anti-social activities. Not just this, even some people gather in the residential area during late night and they consume ganja under the tree shades," says Manohar, a resident.

Last year, a gang of interstate narcotics peddlers were arrested in the city and 1,010 kg of ganja worth Rs. 1.30 crore was seized from their possession. In the latest case, the Vanasthalipuram police arrested a few persons on national highway 65 who were transporting ganja towards the city.