The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Ganja cultivation on the rise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 31, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Ganja cultivation on the rise

By Our Staff Reporter

NIZAMABAD, AUG. 30. Ganja cultivation, which had seen a decline in the past couple of years, is on the rise in the district.

Excise and prohibition sleuths, during raids in the tribal villages of Yellammakonda, Kolpolu, Muthukonda, Peda Malkapur and Amarabad in Nizamabad division during the last seven to ten days, destroyed 6.37 lakh ganja plants that had an international market value of about Rs. 10 crores.

No arrests yet

Sixteen cases against cultivators have been registered, though no one has been arrested so far. The Superintendent of Excise and Prohibition, M. Chandrasekhar Rao, told The Hindu that investigation was on and arrests would be made after an enquiry.

Suspecting that narcotic plants are being raised in a larger extent, excise teams have been conducting raids and monitoring areas where the crop was grown widely earlier. For instance, the crop was grown in Rupla Naik tanda, Magya Naik tanda and Gannaram under Armoor Station House Office limits between 2002 and 2003; four lakh plants had been destroyed during raids then. Tribal farmers there later switched to other crops. "We keep an eye on these villages now," Mr. Rao said. Farmers had taken up ganja cultivation as it was easy to raise and would fetch hefty amounts, he added.

An inter-crop

This kind of cultivation has been predominant in the Nizamabad division. Tribal farmers of Gandhari were once fascinated by ganja cultivation, but now find soyabean and sunflower cultivation more lucrative and risk-free.

Ganja cultivation in the district goes unnoticed, though it is carried out just 15 to 18 km from district headquarters. The crop is raised in inhospitable and hilly terrains and excise officials find it difficult to reach the fields. Ganja is now being taken up as an inter-crop between maize lines to camouflage it. "The naked eye cannot detect it. We use binoculars," Mr. Rao said.

As ganja is mostly cultivated in forest and government lands, the cultivators often go scot-free, he said, adding that the lack of coordination between Government departments makes it difficult to nab the culprits.

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Andhra Pradesh