The Government of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have decided to effectively coordinate in avoiding untoward incidents and ensuring transparent conduct of elections to the Lok Sabha on May 13.
Delegations of senior officials led by Chief Secretaries of the two States A. Santhi Kumari and K. S. Jawahar Reddy participated in a coordination meeting on Monday and discussed the issues that should be addressed when the election process is underway.
Ms. Santhi Kumari said, “Coordination meetings of district level officials of bordering districts of the two States have been held already. Steps have been taken to prevent transportation of liquor, freebies and drugs between the two States. The law and order situation is completely under control in the districts bordering the two States. The meeting between the Chief Secretaries of the two States was convened to further strengthen coordination.”
The meeting opined that there was need for more alertness at border checkposts pertaining to Karnataka, Goa and other States to prevent smuggling of illicit liquor, drugs and other material, she said.
Ms. Santhi Kumari said, “In view of the forthcoming elections the police have set up 36 inter-State checkposts, the Commercial Taxes department seven, Excise department eight and the Forest department three.”
In addition, 224 enforcement teams have been deployed for round-the-clock monitoring as part of election duties. Effective coordination has been forged with the Andhra Pradesh government and Central forces to prevent Maoists from Chhattisgarh from entering the State.
Mr. Jawahar Reddy reiterated that the neighbouring State was working in coordination with Telangana as Andhra Pradesh had simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and Assembly. Operation Parivartan launched by the AP police to check smuggling of ganja, arrack and narcotics has yielded successful results while steps have been taken to set up checkposts for effectively tackling transport of cash, liquor and other freebies from other States.
