Sixteen people including officers injured

: An angry mob went berserk as a raid was conducted against ganja cultivation in Mohanpur subdivision near Agartala on Saturday. Sixteen people including officers, workers and a local journalist were injured and several government vehicles damaged.

Trouble broke out when the Mohanpur sub divisional magistrate Dhiraj Debbarma led revenue officers and a contingent of police to Sajiabari to destroy the ganja, which is widely planted in Tripura as an easy means to earn cash.

“When policemen and workers were about to destroy the plantation, an irate crowd including women attacked us with lethal and sharp cutting weapons”, a police officer informed.

SDM Dhiraj Debbarma, civil and police officers, workers and a journalist sustained injuries in the attack. None however received grave injuries and all of them were discharged from hospital in evening.

The crowd also smashed government vehicles. The police registered a case against unnamed accused persons, but no arrest made so far.

Ganja worth Rs 20 crore already been destroyed in West Tripura, South Tripura, Khowai and Seepahijala districts near Bangladesh border.

More and more people in Tripura are shifting from traditional farming to Ganja cultivation as it is emerging as ‘cash crop’, said an official of West District official.

Besides the domestic market, Bangladesh is a common destination for Ganja where it fetches a high price.

Ganja cultivation is emerging as a cash crop in Tripura

It fetches a high price in Bangladesh

Sixteen people including officers injured