Berhampur: With drugs and contraband smugglers often targeting Excise officials with firearms during raids, the sleuths under 11 Excise districts of southern range here will undergo arms training, a report said Thursday. Moreover, efforts will be made to dissuade people involved in ganja cultivation and bring them back into the mainstream by providing them with alternative livelihood opportunities. The report said that the rising incidents have brought into focus the need for providing arms training to Excise officials in handling arms during encounters as the dreaded smugglers are well-trained and armed with lethal weapons. An intensive training programme has been planned for the officers and men of the Excise department which will start from April, this year.
Though most Excise officers have been given pistols and revolvers, these are often kept in safe custody in the office. With interstate drug mafias intensifying their operations in the state, the officers say that possibility of armed encounters cannot be ruled out. The matter came to the fore during a review meeting of the 11 Excise districts under southern range here in Ganjam district, Wednesday. Excise Commissioner Ashis Kumar Singh presided over the meeting held at the Circuit House where various aspects relating to the department were discussed threadbare.
Sources said that ganja cultivation is rampant in various districts under the southern rage. Excise sleuths are raiding these farmlands often and destroying the cultivation. Raids against ganja cultivation and subsequent filing of cases have gone up this year than the previous year. While over 600 cases were filed in 2021-22, 1,600 cases were registered in 2022-23, the Excise Commissioner informed. Moreover, Excise officials often had to face hostile and violent response from the drug smugglers during raids. Angered over the raids, the contraband smugglers do not hesitate to attack the Excise officials. The Excise Commissioner said the state government is also laying stress on bringing back people involved in ganja cultivation in remote areas to the mainstream by providing them with alternative occupation.
A committee has been formed in this regard under the chairmanship of the respective district Collectors to address the issues, he said. Additional secretary, Excise Mihir Mohanty, additional commissioner Rama Chandra Palta and deputy commissioner Rama Chandra Mishra were present in the meeting. Berhampur’s Excise Intelligence Bureau (EIB) deputy commissioner Dambarudhar Khanda, Berhampur excise superintendent Ramendra Narayan Nayak, Gajapati superintendent Prabhat Kumar Sethi, Ganjam superintendent Devi Prasad Das, Kalahandi superintendent Ranjan Kumar Nayak, Koraput superintendent Arun Kumar Padhi, Malkangiri deputy superintendent Bimbadhar Panda, Nabarangpur superintendent Ganga Paikaray, Nuapada deputy superintendent Sanghamitra Pradhan, Phulbani deputy superintendent Prabir Kumar Samal, and Rayagada superintendent attended the meeting.