Rs 61,000 crore worth petrochemical project to take off in Odisha
Chairman IOCL A.S. Sahney met Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday to discuss progress of various ongoing and upcoming projects of IOCL in Odisha, said an official.
As many as 3.70 lakh hemp plants grown in 261 patches of forest plots were wiped out by enforcement agencies in Odisha’s Malkangiri in the past 48 hours as the district police has intensified its drive to destroy cultivation of cannabis’, locally called ganja, a drug banned under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) act.
In the drive against ganja cultivation, the Orkel police team destroyed hemp plants cultivated over 65 acre lands at Ambaguda-Dabuguda forest area. In this process 1,04,000 cannabis plants were destroyed. Similarly the Chitrakonda police squad destroyed hemp plants cultivated over 60 acre land at Bangur-Rekhapalli area and 84,000 cannabis plants were destroyed.
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An acre of hemp plants were uprooted and were set afire in Baradulal in Mudulipada police station area.
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135 acres of illegal cannabis cultivation with a total of 1,89,000 plants were destroyed at Rajulukondain Chitrakonda police station jurisdiction and at Tekguda(Kalimela Police) and at Gumajharam (Mathili police) on 12 November. Cases were registered in respective Police Stations under sections 20(a)(i) of Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substance Act-1985, the Malkangiri police stated in the official twitter handle.
Malkangiri is widely regarded as the epicenter of left wing extremism. Police officials believe that the outlawed Naxal outfits cannabis cultivation is extending covert patronage to the illegal hemp cultivation.
The destruction of the hemp plantation is still continuing in the areas and villages through collection of local intelligence. The emphasis is on to wipe out the crop before harvesting. It is better to nip the buds before the plants grow full-grown. And this sort of initiative would itself be a strong deterrent, said a senior police official.
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