SECC seeks stringent actions to curb poppy menace
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, January 05 2022: Pointing out that the illicit poppy cultivation in the state has become rampant and out of control, Safe Environment Campaign Committee (SECC) has called upon all the stakeholders for taking up stringent actions so as to curb the menace failing which the committee will seek legal help.

In a release, SECC chairman Mutum Inaobi Singh recalled that the state government declared "War on Drugs" in 2018 and intensified its operation to curb the menace of drugs.

However, more and more farmers are indulging in the illicit practice every year despite continuous efforts made by the state government to stop it.

This clearly indicates that poppy farmers are not ready to give up the illicit practice as of now, he observed.

Explaining about the main causes of rising illicit poppy cultivation, which the committee has found out after a survey conducted in 2021, Inaobi cited lack of determination or political will of the administration, highly lucrative return from the practice in short period of time, involvement of ethnic armed groups, village chiefs/authorities and drug cartel in the practice, unfulfilled promises of the state government for providing alternate crops, easy and assured market of raw opium produced, weak poppy eradication policy without follow up legal action to prosecute the offenders involved, easy access to local financiers, forest department's failure to manage forests under mandatory approved working plan, increasing demand for raw opium to feed the drug manufacturing labs in the state, absence of proper monitoring system on the poppy eradication drives, etc.

Highlighting the key findings, SECC submitted a representation on February 10, 2021 to all stakeholders including Union Home Minister, Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Manipur Chief Minister and director general, NCB, New Delhi for prompt action to stop the illicit practice.

Unfortunately, neither the central nor the state government took up any action on the line of the representation, he lamented.

Reminding the gravity of the situation, SECC, after conducting another field survey, submitted a representation on January 3, 2022 to all the stake holders requesting for immediate stringent actions to curb the menace failing which SECC will seek legal help, he reiterated.

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