Team Herald
PANJIM: In a major embarrassment to the local police, a large quantity of ganja was seized from hawkers living on Parade Ground in Campal during an anti-encroachment drive of Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP), on Saturday.
Accompanied by police, the municipal staff continued their anti-encroachment drive against the hawkers living on the government land at Parade Grounds. During the clearing drive, police found 43 packets of ganja from the belongings that were being cleared by the municipal staff.
CCP Mayor Uday Madkaikar informed that there were complaints from the residents that illegal activities were being carried out from the place for a long time. “Since they were becoming a nuisance for the people, we had decided to clear them from here and for the last two days their belongings have been seized.”
Stating that he was informed that a lot of their belongings were still inside the pipes lying on the ground, he said “We decided to clear up the pipes o and to our surprise we have found such a large quantity of narcotic substances which is supposedly ganja.”
Uday further said that since the hawkers have been in the area for nearly 10 years and occupying the place illegally, the police should have known what is going on in the city. “I demand the Chief Minister who is also the Home Minister to enquire how these people could have lived here for such a long time without being cleared and under whose protection they have been living here. Government has to take strictest action against them”, he added.
He further said that all the hawkers who were cleared from the site have all the documents including PAN card and recently one amongst them approached a builder in the city to purchase a flat with cash in possession to the tune of Rs 40 lakhs.
Panjim police conducted the panchanama and seized the packets. A case has been registered by the police. Sources in the knowhow of the drugs and narcotics stated that each packet could weight around 100 grams and every packet is worth around Rs 1000. It is estimated that the police has seized around 4.3 kgs of ganja from the site at the Parade Ground in Campal on Saturday and the narcotics are worth around Rs 4.30 lakhs in the market.
