AHMEDABAD, MARCH 31: The city crime branch has so far recovered 150 ganja saplings, some more than three feet high, illegally planted in the Gujarat University campus.Police said the University watchman, Gayadin Sukhiram Pal, who lived near the plantation admitted that he had sown the ganja seeds but that they were for his personal use.
Vice-Chancellor S B Vohra when contacted maintained that the campus area was too vast to be guarded efficiently and that a lot of people passed through campus each day. Pro-vice-chancellor K H Shastri however refused to comment on the oversight. The authorities would have informed the police if they had been aware of the plants, he said. ``But since a police investigation is on, we would not like to comment on the issue,'' Shastri added.
About the investigation, ACP (Crime) N R Parmar said that the watchman, a native of Uttar Pradesh state, was staying in the servants' quarters of the University. The saplings, he said, were recovered from the main entrance of theUniversity, near the watchman's house and from the open space between the main building and the canteen. A case under Narcotics Act has been registered against the accused. Meanwhile, eyebrows are being raised over the security arrangements in the University. The 260-acre campus has no fencing and there are not more than 30 guards.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
