Drive to discourage ganja cultivation

 

COOCH BEHAR, Sept. 28: In a bid to combat the growing ganja cultivation in Cooch Behar district an ambitious plan was adopted. Under this plan emphasis is being given not only on drive against ganja trafficking or arrest of offenders but also on methods to discourage the people associated with ganja cultivation. Cooch Behar Excise department officials hope the strategy will bear fruits and no one will like to cultivate ganja from now on.

 

According to the plan a wide scale campaign started in this district informing the people about the punitive measures. Already 6,000 leaflets were distributed and another 6,000 are going to be distributed. In these leaflets - signed by the district magistrate Mr Rajesh Kumar Sinha – it was clearly mentioned that cultivation, production, processing, holding and trading, consuming and interstate movement of ganja is a punishable offence. Under the NDPS Act an offender can attract rigorous imprisonment of 10-years to 20-years and Rs 1-lakh to Rs 2-lakh may be slapped on him as fine. As ganja is a high-powered drug it was banned in India in 1985 like in all other countries. The Cooch Behar DM Mr Sinha appealed to all concerned to co-operate to halt the ganja cultivation to make it a ganja-free district.

 

The district magistrate already asked all BDOs to launch drives against ganja cultivation. To make the programme successful meetings are being conducted with all concerned officials, panchayat functionaries and members of public at block level asking them for an all out effort to combat the situation. Joint raids with police are also going on. The BSF is also co-operating against the fight against ganja traffickers, excise department sources said.

 

Mr Rimil Tudu, superintendent of excise, Cooch Behar, said, drive against ganja is going on as a joint effort. Following continuous raids many ganja growers preferred to make no seedbeds for the contraband cultivation this year. It may yield result, he hoped. He mentioned that they seized 300-kilogram processed dry ganja from Bhogdabri village under Sitalkuchi police station in July. It was a record haul, Mr Tudu claimed.

 

Mr Tapan Roy, additional superintendent of excise, said, drive against ganja trafficking is a round-the-year process. The traffickers smuggle out processed ganja to outer provinces like Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Bihar and also to Bangladesh. There is no fixed selling rate for ganja. It is sold at about Rs 1,000 per kilogram in clandestine market, Mr Roy said.

 

Sitalkuchi, Dinhata-I and Dinhata-II blocks, some areas in Cooch Behar Sadar sub-division and some chhitmahals (enclaves) are infamous for ganja cultivation. The growers prefer government lands especially the sandbanks of rivers instead of privately owned lands for the cultivation. The cultivators use the sandbanks of Mansai, Singijani, Torsa and Dharala. As these lands have no legal owners it is hard for the excise officials to accuse anyone for ganja cultivation because in the court they cannot ascertain the ownership of a land cultivated by an accused, excise officials said. The situation may be improved once the cultivation of this green vegetation stops, they hoped. []

 

PHOTO : Devine work - An artisan busy in making idol of Devi Durga in Cooch Behar.