Manipur government continue to eradicate illicit poppy cultivation

The Manipur government is continuing to destroy illicit poppy cultivation in the state, officials said on Thursday. Chief Minister N. Biren Singh often said that illegal immigrants and drug peddlers, including Myanmar nationals, are involved in mass poppy farming and forest destruction in Manipur. Officials said that Manipur Rifles and Forest Department officials, during the past 48 hours, by spraying herbicides, destroyed 31 hectares of illicit poppy fields at Tora Champhung Hill Range under Ukhrul district.

During the joint operations, 45 huts, set up by the poppy cultivators, were burned, and other infrastructure, including pipeline connections, fertilisers, salt, herbicides, and pesticides, was also destroyed. The Chief Minister, while talking to the media, said that the state government is intensifying its war on drugs and will not stop until the drug menace is completely rooted out of the state.

The enormity of the drug menace has reached such a height that out of the state’s population of 28 lakh, the number of drug-affected youths is around 1.4 lakh. Manipur, which shares around 400 km of unfenced border with Myanmar, has also become a gateway for illegal drug smuggling into India, state government officials said.

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