Visakhapatnam: As many as 150 acres of ganja fields were destroyed by the police in Visakhapatnam on Saturday and Sunday last week in a bid to check the usage and trafficking of illicit drugs in the state.
As per an official release by the District Police Office, a comprehensive program ‘Parivartana’ has been conceived under the leadership of AP DGP Gautam Sawang with able support from Revenue, Forest, and Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) officials in Visakhapatnam.
“The ganja crop destruction program has begun with active participation of Local Police, SEB, Revenue, Forest, and ITDA. A total of 80 Acres were destroyed on Saturday in G Madugula Mandal and the initiative would continue further till the problem of illicit cultivation is cleared from the agency tracts of Visakhapatnam district,” read the release.
On the second day of the ‘Parivartana’ program, 70 acres of Cannabis crop were destroyed with the help of 70 laborers and five cutting machines, in Visakhapatnam Agency Area in an attempt to ‘eradicate’ cannabis in the state.
The release further stated that a comprehensive survey was done to identify the land being cultivated for Ganja physically and also technological support like satellite images, GPS, drones were taken to locate the crops in the Visakhapatnam agency areas.
“Awareness campaigns are being taken extensively educating the villagers about the ill-fated consequences of ganja cultivation and the impact it is having on the younger generation particularly. At several places, the people themselves came forward and voluntarily destroyed the ganja crop,” it added.
(Report with inputs from ANI)