Itanagar: Escalating insurgency and drug menace in Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent with the support from some of the police here have crippled Northeastern states.
“There is absolutely no iota of doubt that insurgency problem and drug menace are a paradigm of the destructive side of human nature, that is why the infamous Golden Triangle comprising Myanmar, Thailand and Laos and Golden Crescent consisting of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan merrily thrive on gun and drug trade,” said Denhang Bosai, DIPRO, Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh recently.
The DIPRO said, “Unfortunately, due to their proximity to the Golden Triangle, most of the NE states are affected by insurgency and drugs malady.”
The national survey shows that the states of Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram figure prominently in the list of states severely affected by drug addiction.
The insurgency-infested districts of Arunachal Pradesh which share boundaries with Myanmar and Nagaland; Tirap, Changlang and Longding, popularly known as TCL, are also under the grip of opium addiction, especially among the youth, he said.
However, many other districts in the state which are free from insurgency are also not free from opium cultivation and addiction, he said, adding that districts like Lohit, Namsai, Anjaw, Upper Siang and Lower Dibang Valley are known for being opium hubs.
I have seen that for the last many decades the standard practice adopted or followed by the Narcotics Bureau of India (NBI), district administration and the police have been to destroy the standing poppy plants annually.
“But paradoxically, the opium growers or cultivators and consumers have only burgeoned over the years to a dangerous proportion,” Bosai said.
‘’So, a three-pronged strategy may be invariably explored and adopted to effectively tackle the fast spreading vice of opium,” he noted.
He suggested, “The government may first of all consider providing alternative source of earning like cardamom plantation, rubber plantation, piggery, goatery, poultry etc. Secondly, the main growers and peddlers may be identified. Thirdly, rehabilitation centres to treat the addicts may be established.’’
In fact, the people of Upper and Lower Kolam villages have adopted large cardamom as an alternative to opium plantation which is giving them good yield, he said.
”We must create a drug-free society for our children and their children. The efforts made by NBI, district administration and police should be truly pragmatic and should genuinely benefit the addicts. It the local people who can contribute more than the district administration in fighting against opium,” he said.
He lauded the women wing of Adi Bane Kebang based in East Siang district for collaborating with district administration and police in checking the menace of opium. (UNI)
