Chhatrapur: With illegal cultivation, storage and trading of ganja reaching an alarming level in the state, the Ganjam district administration has decided to fully ban illegal cannabis cultivation in the district.
As part of this programme, the district administration has decided to wean people away from ganja cultivation and engage them in cultivation of other profitable cash crops. The matter came to the fore at a meeting of the district administration held in virtual mode, Saturday.
Presiding over the meeting, Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange urged officials to restrain people from taking up ganja cultivation and involve them in cultivation of cash crops which will help them a earn a livelihood.
He informed officials that an action plan will soon be prepared to help people better their financial growth. He said a farmer involved in ganja cultivation will withdraw only if he takes interest in cultivating some other crop and earns more from it. He also asked the agriculture department to provide training to people in cash crops so that they do not resort again to ganja cultivation.
He urged forest officials to keep a close watch so that illegal ganja farming does not take place in any of the forested areas. He directed all officials of line departments to form teams comprising police, excise, forest and magistrates and raid the places where ganja cultivation is taking place.
Reports said that illegal ganja cultivation on 157 acre including 112 acre by the district excise department and 45 acre by Berhampur excise department have been destroyed during last four years. The illegal cultivation is taking place mostly in the areas under Badagad police limits of Ganjam district and in the bordering regions of neighbouring Gajapati and Kandhamal districts.
Ganja cultivation is on the rise in several hilly areas of the state year by year. This is happening due to easy money earned from the trade. As a result, sale and purchase of weed is getting popular among the inter-state drug traffickers.
Mostly, Maoists are increasingly getting involved in ganja cultivation and trade to fund their subversive activities. They are patronising the gullible locals and peddlers in districts such as Malkangiri, Koraput, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Boudh, Gajapati, Nabarangpur, Angul, Sambalpur and Deogarh to take up its cultivation and trade to earn easy money. The illegal cultivation is bleeding the state of vital revenue which is flowing into the wrong hands.
The hilly terrain and dense forests of these districts serve as ideal ground for ganja cultivators and peddlers. Lack of good roads and bridges are the barriers for excise officials who do not dare to venture into the ganja fields fearing backlashes from the Naxals during the raid.
The Collector asked the officials to intensify the awareness drive in all these concerned areas by involving the local representatives, block development officers (BDOs) and members of voluntary outfits.
Among others, Ganjam Excise Superintendent Rajesh Botra, his Berhampur counterpart Ramesh Nayak, ASP PK Dalei and horticulture dean Sarat Chandra Behera participated in the meeting.
