Vegetables grown on erstwhile poppy farms
Senapati Police lauds villages for supporting war on 'drugs' campaign
Source: Chronicle News Service

Senapati, September 01 2022: After a year of massive destruction of more than 60 acres of poppy cultivation sites in different locations of Senapati district as part of the 'War on Drugs' campaign, Senapati police conducted its second phase field survey of poppy fields.

The findings during the survey delighted the efforts of the police as some of the poppy fields were found totally transformed and utilised as vegetable cultivation on large scale.

Expressing gratitude to the village chiefs and village authorities for their cooperation and support to the movement against drugs, SP Karthik Malla-di has called for promoting such vegetable cultivation instead of poppy.

He also informed that, during the last one year of exercise to identify poppy plantation sites and destroy them; forest department, volunteers and CSOs strongly supported CM Biren Singh led 'War on Drugs' campaign.

While maintaining that the campaign and the held survey to destroy poppy cultivation will continue, SP Karthik Malladi encouraged the villagers for taking up alternative plantation to poppy, which is illegal.

During the second phase survey conducted on Wednesday, a police team led by Inspector Dependson surveyed Taphou Hill Range.

During first phase survey, the police team had disrupted the plans for poppy plantation by seizing urea bags and poppy seeds.

The village authority members also joined the police team during the survey.

In a positive development and boost to the war on drugs campaign, it was found that most of the hill range, where poppy plantations were widespread in the preceding years, was left uncultivated while in some portion of the areas cabbage, beans, peas, maize and other seasonal crops were found growing as an alternative to poppy.

The whole area has been surveyed intensively but no chemical or other materials used in cultivation of poppy could be found.

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