M A I N   N E W S

A hamlet that doesn’t want road
Progress is threat to drug peddling in Malana
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 9
Having achieved fame in the narcotics world and with the Malana hydroelectric project coming up in the area, the mystic area around the landlocked village of Malana in Kulu district is fading away.

Residents of the village are up in arms against their high quality charas growing hamlet being linked by road or the power project authorities extending the road beyond Jari which is about two hours away from there.

High quality “Malana cream” and “Malana AK-47” have already come to be known in the international narcotics world and the number of foreigners visiting Malana village, which is still governed by the “devta” and has its own judicial set-up is fast increasing.

Nothing is allowed to be done in the village without the wishes of the “devta” who is the principal deity of the area.

Malana has been in the news for the past some time as smuggling of charas from there is increasing. The seizures have increased from 39 kg in 1998 to 194 kg during the last financial year which ended on March 31.

According to the Superintendent of Police, Kulu, Mr Venugopal, about 79 kg of charas and 1 kg of opium had been seized during the first three months of this year against only 10.5 kg during the corresponding period last year.

Mr Venugopal admitted that the police in the district was not adequate to meet the challenge of drug peddlers and producers. Upgrading of the Manikaran and Bhuntar police posts to the status of full-fledged police stations had been recommended for effective policing against those involved in the narcotics trade.

Although Malana has remained cut off from the rest of the country over the years, there is hardly any household without the luxury of having its own power generator, TV or other electronics gadgets. Foreign guests are welcome in the village, but Indians are generally looked upon with suspicion.

It is learnt that the villagers rejected the jobs for road construction which were offered to them by the Malana project authorities. It is being said that the budget for construction of a road to the village was allowed to lapse under political pressure. They were content with growing cannabis to produce charas and other narcotics, it is said. Malana has a closed society and is situated at an advantageous position uphill from where the residents can watch anyone approaching the village.

Mr Venugopal describes this as the biggest disadvantage for the police whose operations do not remain a secret in the area. Moreover, no worthwhile information regarding smuggling of charas was forthcoming to the police.

The drug smugglers of the area have become wise and found alternative routes for taking the produce outside the state after the police tightened vigil on the exit points of the district.

They now reach straight to Shimla via Banjar or Mandi through Larji, taking the bridal path routes without crossing the police checkposts on the highway.

Many foreigners have now permanently settled in obscure hamlets by marrying local girls and are allegedly indulging in the narcotics trade

As many as 155 foreigners have been arrested for staying there without valid documents or under the NDPS Act.