Jajpur: Ganja cultivation on Baitarani riverbanks in Jajpur district is on a rise amid inaction by local administration, many people in the know have said.
Even though illegal, the use of weed is widespread in the district. Local residents here said that young men collect ganja saplings from Bhandaripokhari area in Bhadrak district and plant the sapling on the riverbanks here.
“We have been observing many unemployed youths here adopting this contraband smuggling as their main source of income. Many of them are also engaged in other anti-social activities,” a local man said on conditions of anonymity.
Due to easy money, weed smuggling is getting popular among interstate drug traffickers who procure ganja from these places, he added.
In many places of the district, smuggler sell raw marijuana leaves in form of ‘Bhang balls’. They sell this form of contraband in temple areas in the name of tradition. Meanwhile, many small shop owners sell ganja in cigarette form. Some others, meanwhile, convert dried ganja leaves into fine powder and mix chocolate powder with it to make ganja candies which are sold in open.
A large chunk of ganja for these illegal activities is procured from the plantation on Baitarani riverbanks.
Besides, young people in these areas are often seen consuming the contraband in Balarama Field, Balavi ghat, Debigad Ghat, Dasaswamedha Ghat, Jagganath Temple and Baraha Ring Road areas.
When asked, Excise Department inspector Swapnarani Sahoo refused to comment. Jajpur police station IIC Manas Ranjan Chakra, meanwhile, admitted that the illegal ganja trade is rising in the district.
Chakra further added that cops are conducting raids at many places and such raids will be intensified in days to come.
PNN
