Join hands to eradicate ganja menace, says DGP Gautam Sawang
VIJAYAWADA: Severe action would be taken against ganja smugglers and Preventive Detention (PD) Act will be charged for illegal transportation and supply of ganja and narcotic drugs to college and school students, said Director General of Police (DGP) D Gautam Sawang on Friday.
Speaking at a press conference at Andhra Pradesh Police Headquarters in Mangalagiri, Sawang also inaugurated the one-day workshop on ‘Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances’, in which officials from other southern States would also participate. He further requested students to not spoil their bright future by getting addicted to ganja or drugs.
Addressing the officials present, Sawang said that ganja cultivation was quite prevalent in the neighbouring States of Odisha, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. It was also frequently transported from Malkangiri on the Andhra-Odisha border, East Godavari and Vishakapatnam districts to various States.
An action plan to put an end to the ganja menace by blocking the frequently-used routes was chalked out, the DGP said.
Reminding of the past incidents of busting ganja rackets, the DGP said tonnes of ganja were seized from Vijayawada while peddlers were trying to transport it to other cities of Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states such as Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
“AP government has issued orders to take severe action against smugglers of ganja and other narcotic drugs. By the collaborative work of the police of all southern States, the menace of ganja and other drugs can be eradicated completely by maintaining a database of smugglers within the officials of all departments,” he said.
Additional Director General (ADGP- CID) Sunil Kumar said that AP police were ready to cooperate with the neighbouring States. Forest department additional principal chief conservator of forests Anand Kumar Jha said that ganja crops were being identified using drones and remote sensing data, and were being destroyed in the presence of police and revenue officials.
He also explained that the moderate climate and abundant water supply was helping the accused to cultivate hemp.“Since the investment is very less as compared to other conservative crops, farmers are showing interest in ganja cultivation. If a farmer invests `1 lakh per acre, he can get `2 lakh to `3 lakh as profit,” AK Jha said.
Officials of various departments such as the police, excise, forest, directorate of revenue, intelligence, customs, narcotics control bureau, medical and health, forensic science laboratory, director public prosecutor and others participated in the workshop.