Nayagarh: Brown sugar trade has seen a sharp rise in Nayagarh district with the police and Excise personnel failing to conduct raids in regular intervals, a report said Thursday. As a result, the district is fast turning into a major hub of illegal narcotic substances.
Reports said that except for one or two insignificant raids, police and Excise personnel have almost stopped conducting raids for the last year. The absence of raids has only emboldened the miscreants to carry on with their business with impunity, which is only shattering the peace in many families and resulting in a surge in crimes like dacoity, loot, and robbery. The drug mafias are always one step ahead of the police. They are even using women and children as shields to run their multicrore business as well as to evade arrest.
The district has 14 police stations under its jurisdiction and the banned substance is available in every lane, by-lane and sublime, near temples, community centres, vegetable stores, railways stations, roadside dhabas, and eateries. Things have come to such a pass that the contraband is even sold covertly near police stations, outposts, and the district excise office. Itamati block in the district has turned into a hub of illegal trade as small pouches packed with brown sugar are being dispatched for sale to different locations in the district. The contraband is transported from Khurda to Nayagarh via NH-57 connecting Bolangir with Khurda NH-57 via BaghamariKhandapara road and Nua Jagannath Sadak. The peddlers have become so emboldened they are transporting the contraband on bikes and scooters and selling it in every nook and corner of Nayagarh.
Earlier, a packet of brown sugar used to be sold for Rs 600 but its price has reduced to Rs 300 with more youths getting addicted to the banned substance. In this situation, the silence of the police and Excise personnel has proved favourable for the traders. The recent seizure 5.890 gram of brown sugar by Nayagarh Town police is a case at this point. The police personnel are claiming it to be a major seizure but it is only they who are to be blamed for mushrooming of the trade. A trader requesting anonymity said that the business has seen a rise after the then SP of Khurda was transferred to the district. The new SP reduced the frequency of raids which only helped traders in Khurda and Nayagarh to carry on their business without any fear of police action. He said the volume of trade in the district is much more than that in Khurda district. The silence of the police and Excise department has only favoured them. A resident Sudam Swain said the illegal sale of contraband has seen an exponential rise in Nayagarh district and resulted in a corresponding increase in crimes like dacoity, theft, and robbery besides violence against women. District excise superintendent Karuna Shankar Tiwari said that the raids against the brown sugar trade will be stepped up while awareness drives are being undertaken to sensitise youths about the harms of brown sugar consumption. He assured that more raids will be undertaken in the coming days.
