New Delhi: In a bid to check the cultivation and supply of cannabis, the Andhra Pradesh Police launched ‘Operation Parivarthan’, under which the police personnel deforested several cannabis plants and seized two lakh kilograms of processed ganja.
Pushing the state’s united fight against drugs, Andhra police, in collaboration with Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB), have deforested cannabis plants spread across 7,552 acres, from November 2021 to February 2022, before the harvest season. They have also seized 2 lakh kilograms of processed cannabis while it was being shipped out after harvest. The seized consignment was set on fire in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
Speaking at a press conference during an event, the Director General of Police (DGP) said, “Today we are witnessing a clandestine event. Two lakh kilograms of seized cannabis is being destroyed. Our government has given a mandate to the SEB to curb cannabis. Operation Parivarthan has two parts - one is through technology and the other is intensive vigilance. Previously 3,000 acres were destroyed in 2016-17 and now through the use of technology and innovations, 7,552 acres have been destroyed.”
The DGP further added that last year, police had seized over 3 lakh kilograms of ganja.
According to the officer, most of this cannabis cultivation takes place in the Andhra-Odisha border, mostly across 29 districts of Odisha and two districts of Andhra Pradesh. With the help of geo-mapping, police have traced most of the exit routes in Andhra Pradesh.
“The Andhra-Odisha border is a vast area, densely infested with Naxals and Maoists, due to which the AP police and government couldn’t access the area. But over the last one year, there has been a focused drive by SEB and the police department, resulting in today’s fruits of labour. Due to the vigilance and monitoring of the exit routes, we have also learned the MOs of the cannabis smugglers,” the DGP added.
The Andhra Pradesh police have devised the operation with a two-pronged strategy. While the primary goal of the drive was to find and destroy the cannabis crops, the operation was also aimed at educating the indigenous communities participating in the production.
The operation, which included revenue, tribal welfare, agricultural, and ITDA personnel, aimed to rehabilitate the people involved in the cannabis trade, by providing alternate livelihood opportunities.