Manipur seeks central fund to check drug menace

The Manipur government has sought funds from the central government in order to provide financial aid for an alternative livelihood for illegal poppy cultivators.

N Biren Singh, Chief Minister of Manipur said, "The state's law enforcement agencies destroyed 4, 897 acres of illicit poppy cultivation in the past two years and so the state government sought funds under National Fund for Control of Drug Abuse in order to provide alternative livelihoods to the cultivators. The state government wants to encourage poppy cultivators to shift to other cash crops in order to check the drug menace."

"Being the gateway to South-East Asia, Manipur has been for decades dealing with the issues of illegal drug trafficking and related problems. Drug trafficking continues to be a lucrative illegal business with strong inter-linkages between crime, corruption, drug use and HIV infection," Singh said in a regional conference in Imphal organised by United Nations on Drugs and Crime Regional Office, South Asia and Manipur government", he added while addressing a regional conference in Imphal organised by United Nations on Drugs and Crime Regional Office, South Asia and Manipur government..

The union home minister Amit Shah asked Chief Ministers of all Northeast states to crack down on illicit drug problems in the region that share borders with countries such as Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh and China.

The government seized about 478 kg of opium, 367 kg of opium derivatives like heroin since 2017 and also several agencies seized banned substances including 9 million WY tablets.