An Ahmedabad-based businessman walked in with an application accompanied by a “recommendation” from a “very senior bureaucrat” in New Delhi, at its office in Gandhinagar to “approve and grant licence to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes” in Ahmedabad. (Source: AP) An Ahmedabad-based businessman walked in with an application accompanied by a “recommendation” from a “very senior bureaucrat” in New Delhi, at its office in Gandhinagar to “approve and grant licence to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes” in Ahmedabad. (Source: AP)

The Prohibition and Excise Department of Gujarat saw an unusual request last week. An Ahmedabad-based businessman walked in with an application accompanied by a “recommendation” from a “very senior bureaucrat” in New Delhi, at its office in Gandhinagar to “approve and grant licence to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes” in Ahmedabad. The officials rejected it instantly citing the clause that it doesn’t fall under the purview of the Prohibition Department. However, the audacity of the businessman to seek permisison to grow marijuana in a dry state irked the officials. Sources said that the businessman was willing to “grease palms” to get the licence citing that such practices are “fairly common” in other states. Officials in Narcotics Control Bureau also informed that they keep receiving applications seeking licence for growing medicinal marijuana.

Missing Wheelchairs

For the past four months, the New Civil Hospital in Surat has been facing an issue of missing wheelchairs. Seven wheelchairs went missing from its premises in the past four months. In the latest case, Kausar Jahan, a resident of Kadodara village in Surat, came with her daughter to the orthopaedic ward on Tuesday night and handed her Aadhaar card to the nurse, seeking permission to allow her to take the wheelchair as her daughter could not walk. She promised to return it. When she did not return till Wednesday, the NCH authorities informed the Khatodara police. Nursing Association president, Ikbal Kadiwala, said, “Not only wheelchairs, patients take away blankets also. In four months, seven wheelchairs went missing from different wards. Some of them were donated. The cost of a wheelchair varies from Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000.” Medical Superintendent of NCH Dr Ganesh Govekar said, “We are taking this issue seriously and will take steps so that such incidents don’t happen again.”

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