The Andhra Pradesh government has stepped up efforts to curb the smuggling of marijuana in the Visakhapatnam agency area with a massive awareness drive in more than hundred villages.
According to reports, mandal-level committees have been formed to identify villages where marijuana is cultivated by farmers for money.
The government also added that it will help the farmers and other people involved in various levels of the trade by providing them with alternate employment.
Meanwhile, the police have formed their own plan of action to deal with the situation.
The New Indian Express reported:
Excise officials have identified 14 storage points in nine mandals, where the smugglers hide the stuff and all points are deep in forests. As many as 29 routes, being used by the smugglers, have also been identified. The most prominently used route is Yelamanchali-Tuni from Visakhapatnam agency. The routes en route Odisha and Chhattisgarh are often used. Meanwhile, police too are planning to set up CCTV cameras at some vulnerable places in the agency, which could help them trace the movement of Maoists and ganja smugglers.