Enforcement of Model Code of Conduct in full swing in Telangana: Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari

HYDERABAD: Telangana Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari has asked officials of various departments to work in tandem for effective implementation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in the wake of Lok Sabha elections. A high-level meeting was held at the Secretariat on Thursday on the implementation of the MCC in which senior officers of police, excise, commercial taxes, forest, revenue, transport and other departments participated.

Speaking at the meeting, Santhi Kumari asked officials to work efficiently during the Lok Sabha elections with the same spirit as they did in the recently concluded Legislative Assembly elections.

Checkposts

In addition to setting up special checkposts on the border states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, officials informed that strong surveillance was set up at checkposts at border states too.

The Chief Secretary mentioned that special control rooms were also set up by all major departments for the conduct of elections and implementation of the MCC. Checkposts were set up by various departments in the State including 444 checkposts and 9 inter-state checkposts by the police department.

So far, Rs 10 crore was seized by the police department along with unlicensed weapons, explosives, gelatin sticks and gold.

15 checkposts and 52 enforcement teams have also been set up by the transport department. These checkposts will work 24 hours. In the inspections carried out by the transport department teams, Rs 34.31 lakh was seized.

16 inter-state checkposts have been set up by the commercial taxes department and 31 strategic points are being specially monitored. In addition to this, 25 godowns where there is a possibility to distribute various items to entice the voters have also been identified and special vigilance has been kept on them. 141 warehouses and 912 warehouses for the manufacture of various goods have also been kept under surveillance.

Santhi Kumari informed that 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 illegal liquor manufacture have been identified.

Liquor

She added that five railway lines where there was a possibility of illegal transportation of liquor have been identified and special measures have been taken to prevent them. So far Rs 50 lakh worth of liquor has been seized.

The Chief Secretary mentioned that a 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. She informed that the Command and Control Center in Hyderabad has also been tasked to monitor the transportation of liquor through CCTVs.

She said that 65 checkposts have also been set up by the forest department, of which 18 are inter-state check posts.

DGP Ravi Gupta, special chief secretary excise and CT 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 in this review meeting.