With illegal cultivation of cannabis reportedly on the rise in the State, Chief Secretary AP Padhi has directed officials to undertake a drive to search and destroy those contraband plants on a priority basis.
Padhi issued an order in this regard while chairing a High level Coordination Committee (HlCC) meeting at the State Secretariat recently in which senior officials of Home and Excise Departments and police officers were present.
It was revealed that detection and destruction of ganja plants have slowed down despite the fact that funds are available for the purpose. Excise Secretary Bishnupada Sethi said the department has been providing funds regularly, and Rs70 lakh has been earmarked during 2016-17 for the purpose.
He said over Rs55 lakh has already been released in names of various Superintendents of Police and Superintendents of Excise to take up drives for destruction of cannabis cultivation. Illegal cultivation of cannabis is majorly going on in nine districts, Angul, Deogarh, Sambalpur, Boudh, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Gajapati, Rayagada and Malkangiri.
Of these districts, cultivation is rampant in Angul, Boudh, Kandhamal and Rayagada districts and, hence, more funds have been disbursed to them.
While by December, 2015, over 36.24 lakh hemp plants in 2,767 acres were destroyed, as on 31 December, 2016 only 27.43 lakh destroyed in 1,759 acres.
The HlCC also reviewed the NDPS cases. It was revealed that, by September, 2016, about 200 cases were registered and 218 persons arrested. During this period, 5,114 kg of ganja, 332.90 gram brown sugar, 32 kg poppy straw were seized, said sources. It was decided that about 1,200 quintals of narcotics, majorly ganja, seized during the last 10 years would be disposed properly.
The Department has allocated Rs 5 crore for the current year for construction of store houses for the seized contraband items. locations in Puri, Khordha, Cuttack, Mayurbhanj, Angul, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Boudh, Ganjam and Koraput have been identified for construction of store houses.