Mohana: A joint team comprising of Mohana police, Gajapati district excise, revenue and forest department officials destroyed cannabis cultivation worth over Rs 10 crore at Bama village of Juba panchayat in the district Sunday morning, official sources informed.
According to the sources, the team raided Bama village and its nearby areas. Police felled cannabis plants cultivated on about 52 acres of land. Later, the plants were torched under active supervision to make those unusable.
The destroyed cannabis plants were worth around Rs 10.4 crore. Massive ganja cultivations of more than Rs 50 crore have been destroyed during the last seven days, a Mohana police official said.
Notably, the joint team had destroyed ganja cultivation worth Rs 13 crore Friday near Buduni village in Gajapati district.
Cannabis cultivation has gone up substantially since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployed youths including those who lost their jobs owing to shutdowns have taken up ganja cultivation.
PNN
