AGARTALA, June 30 (TIWN): Recently, in a joint operation led by Kalamchaoura Police, TSR along with other officials destroyed massive ganja plantation worth Rs. 5 lakh at Putia and Manikya Nagar under kalamchaura police station of Boxonagar RD block.

Ganja is smuggled to Bangladesh through the porous international border to earn fast money. There is a huge demand for ganja in Bangladesh, and Tripura plays a key role in meeting this demand.

Kalamchaoura Police station OC along with TSR jawans had successfully destroyed 12 Ganja fields at Putia and Manikya Nagar under kalamchaura police station of Boxonagar RD block. Reportedly, the localites were earning huge amount of money from illegal and illicit business of Ganja by trespassing it to Bangladesh.

The ganja cultivation is mainly carried out in the hilly and inaccessible terrains of the state and a lot of co-ordination was needed among various departments to destroy the hefty cultivation, said police personnel.

A senior official said that the most of the ganja is grown in the bordering areas of Indo – Bangla border like Sonamura, Boxonagar and outskirts of Agartala.

The official further said that cultivators even use power-tillers, fertilizers and irrigation facilities, resulting in high yielding bushes.  

Since most of these plantations are tucked away on hills and forests, government agencies have a tough time destroying these. A large number of villagers in the particular area of Putia and Manikya Nagar under kalamchaura police station cultivate ganja and smuggle it to Bangladesh as it brings back huge amount of money from the trespassing of Ganja.

Plantations of Ganja (cannabis) are done on a large scale in the interior and inaccessible areas of the border region.

When it comes to narcotics, no amount of laws seems to be enough to reign in the production and distribution of banned substances.  While hundreds of smugglers based in Tripura are sending spurious Phensedyl, a cough syrup, with an exceedingly high dose of codeine and other drugs to Bangladesh virtually by the truckload, hundreds of acres of remote land in West Tripura have become sprawling ganja plantations.  Ganja also fetches huge money when smuggled to Bangladesh.

Large parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar are emerging as drug consuming zones, and bordering areas of Tripura are contributing to the fast-emerging drugs market.