AGARTALA, August 10 (TIWN): Ganja plants worth Rs 3,01,50,000 was destroyed by security forces from January till July 2015, informed chief minister Manik Sarkar who is holding the charge of Home Department . Replying to a question raised by opposition MLA Ratan Lal Nath in assembly today, Sarkar said during the period 24,67, 800 ganja (marijuana ) plant was were uprooted, most cultivation are done on khasland and forest land area.

It is mentionable here that  illegal  cultivation of ganja continues unabated in around the international border along Indo – Bangla  despite crackdowns. 

Villagers are adopting modern techniques and using manure and water pumps to cultivate ganja, he added. Besides, smugglers from Bangladesh  and locals  West Bengal are funding the local people to cultivate the crop,  revealed an security agency sources.   
Outsiders throng these areas for ganja as they get the stuff at a very low price. While they buy a kg of ganja at Rs 1,000 here, the same is being sold by them for Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 at other places, sources said. 
Ganja mafia rule the roost as the enforcement  lacks adequate man power. The ganja cultivators had destroyed vast tracts of evergreen forests deep inside the reserve forests and this had affected the water sources.

 In view of the high risk involved in transporting tonnes of dry ganjafrom the forests to various parts of the country and abroad, drugrunners have resorted to extracting oil to smuggle out the killer
drug. There is also a method to collect stick juice, similar totapping of rubber, which are made into small balls.This stick juicefetches high value and is used for smoking.