Maoists are encouraging tribal people to cultivate ganja in the inaccessible areas by supplying seed and the produce is being supplied to the neighbouring States, which should be controlled, according to officials of various government departments.
Tribal people were taking up ganja cultivation on the hilly areas for livelihood. Ganja and other drugs are being smuggled and youth are being targeted in educational institutions, said the officials at the Southern States coordination meeting on controlling ganja and other drugs.
Officers of Police, Prohibition and Excise, Forest, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Customs, Intelligence, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Medical and Health, Director of Public Prosecutor and other departments participated in the one-day workshop.
Director-General of Police (DGP) D. Gautam Sawang, who inaugurated the workshop, stressed the need for better coordination among various State and Central government agencies to check ganja cultivation and transportation.
“Stern action would be taken against the drugs and ganja smugglers and the line departments should maintain a data on the kingpins of the racket and the smugglers,” Mr. Sawang said and sought the cooperation of the officials of the neighbouring States.
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Anand Kumar Jha said that ganja crops were being identified through remote sensing data and drones and were destroyed. Mr. Jha asked the police to cooperate for the operation.
Additional Director-General, CID, P.V. Sunil Kumar and Intelligence Bureau IG K. Chandrashekar explained the modus operandi of the smuggling gangs. Ganja is being cultivated on the borders of Andhra Pradesh in Odisha and Chhattisgarh and Jarkhand States and is being smuggled to other places through Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts, according to the SPs of the districts concerned.
Call for awareness
DRI Additional Commissioner Adelli Prasad, Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner R.K. Meena, NCB Zonal Director Sunil Kumar Sinha, Addl. DGP (CID) Dayananda, Bangalore Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil, Enforcement Director Hari Kumar and other officials underlined the need for creating awareness among the students against ganja peddling and the consequences, if they were booked.
Additional Director-General (Law and Order) Ravi Shankar Ayyannar, Deputy Director, Medical and Health Neelima, Higher Education Joint Secretary Kallal Biswas and other officers spoke.
