A diary recovered from the site of an exchange of fire with Maoists contains information on possible links between the rebels and ganja smugglers, according to sources in the Police Department.
“Rummaging through the belongings left behind by the Maoists at a camp, we found a diary belonging to Aruna, a State Committee Secretary and second in-command of the Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) region after Central Committee Member Gajarla Ravi alias Uday. In the diary, there were 20 names of middlemen who are active in ganja smuggling in the AOB region,” a senior police offiical engaged in anti-Maoist operations said.
Police said the details found in the diary corroborate what they have been saying all along — that ganja cultivation remains a lucrative source of revenue for the Maoists who lend active support to its cultivation and trade.
Of late, the AOB region has become infamous for rampant cultivation and smuggling of ganja. Police officials said they are receiving reports that ganja cultivated in the AOB region is being peddled across the country from Delhi to Goa, Kerala, Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu, as well as in North-eastern States.
Though the police have long suspected a nexus between the Maoists and ganja smugglers, the unearthing of the diary substantiates their claims, officials said. For years, the Maoists have been denying any role in the ganja cultivation. However, it is difficult to cultivate and trade the crop in that region without their approval, as nothing moves without their consent in that region as they hold considerable sway there.
This was confirmed by Director General of Police Gautam Sawang recently. He pointed out that the ganja is grown under their patronage and they earn hefty commissions through its sale. “The Maoist connection is our main hurdle in eradicating the ganja menace in AOB,” he had said.
Change in stance
As per the adivasis in the interior parts of AOB and in the cut-off region, earlier, the Maoists had introduced a tax on the cultivation of ganja.
Ganja has been cultivated in the Agency for decades, but the cultivation of the crop gained momentum in the last two decades after middlemen from Tamil Nadu and Kerala made their way to the region. They introduced techniques like drip irrigation and the usage of portable generator sets and started to finance the farmers and also supply them seeds.
It was then that the Maoists, who had infiltrated the Visakha Agency by the early 1980s, started to take a keen interest in the cropping, as it served as a good revenue generation model. In the earlier days, they had imposed a tax of 10 paisa per plant which later shot up to ₹1 per plant.
However, a few years ago, a resolution was passed by the CPI (Maoist) that they would not tax the cultivators as it might antagonise them and they might lose their support base. It was then that they switched their collection model and started to focus on the middlemen, said a senior officer from the Excise Department who is engaged in anti-ganja operations.
Dubious distinction
In the last decade, the Visakhapatnam Agency has gained the dubious distinction of being a hub of ganja cultivation in India after the Chamba valley in Himachal Pradesh.
As per a conservative estimate, over 40,000 acres are under cultivation in AOB region, with an area double the size being used to cultivate the crop across the border in the neighbouring State. The trade could be over a few thousand crores a year, as the variety that is grown here fetches good value in the upcountry market, as the base price of ₹1,500 to ₹2,000 per kg in the Agency can go up to ₹5, 500 to ₹15,000 per kg in the big cities, said police officers.
Published - November 04, 2021 01:34 am IST
