20K cannabis plants destroyed in Kangra district

Continuing its campaign against narcotics, the Kangra police has destroyed 20,000 cannabis plants on the fields of some residents of Sarajda village in the Baijnath area.

According to the police, the villagers were growing cannabis allegedly to extract ‘charas’ from it. The police have registered a case under Sections 20, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act against Sarajda village residents identified as Suresh Kumar, Pritam, Parveen Kumar and Lata Devi. The incident has again given credence to the police theory that some people in the remote areas of Kangra district were trying to grow cannabis to extract ‘charas’ from it.

As per the police reports, some people were growing cannabis on a commercial scale in the Chhota Bhangal area that falls in Dhauladhar Wildlife Sanctuary.

Since it falls in the sanctuary area there has been no road connectivity to several parts of Chhota Bhangal. The lack of access makes it ideal for people dealing in narcotics to use the area for the cannabis cultivation. The issue of allowing farmers of the state to cultivate cannabis for medicinal and commercial purposes have been hogging limelight for quite some time.

After demands from several quarters, an Assembly committee was constituted under Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi to give a report to the government on legalising cannabis cultivation.

The committee has submitted its report to the government and sources say it has recommended allowing cultivation of cannabis in the state for medicinal and commercial purpose. Meanwhile, the sources said some national and international companies were lobbying with the government to allow them set up medicinal units based on cannabis.