Samarth (name changed), a fun-loving youngster from Mangaluru employed in Dubai, was elated to return home on vacation. His happiness had less to do with homecoming, it had to do with fresh ganja he had managed to get his hands on soon after his arrival. ¡°I bought it from a peddler who purchased it from Shikaripura,¡± said Samarth during a casual chat.
Shikaripura in Shivamogga district is part of the scenic Malnad region of the Western Ghats that comprises parts of Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu and Uttara Kannada districts.
While Samarth is an occasional customer, trekkers to the ghats are familiar with ganja points across the region.
reuters/representational image
Several people TOI spoke to pointed to the worrying trend of ganja being cultivated clandestinely in the Western Ghats ¡ª a Unesco world heritage site. Those who frequent the region say several hundred acres in the ghats, stretching from Belagavi to Kerala, are now ganja fields.
¡°I know the dark truth behind the breathtaking green belt,¡± said a trekker who would not be named.
¡°As you trek towards Sarvajna Point, crossing Kodachadri, and walk downwards to Chitramoole, you reach a hamlet known as Dali. The place has a narrow passage which you can barely pass through.
Locals will stop you from trekking further, citing the presence of wild animals and spinning spooky stories. The reality is that they do not want you to enter the ganja bastion.¡±
reuters/representational image
Farmers in Shivamogga are changing over to cultivating ganja due to drought and promise of greater profits. The excise department has recently employed drones in the district to identify ganja fields.
Jadkal Muduru between Kollur (Udupi) and Siddapura (Uttara Kannada) is also seen as part of the ganja belt. ¡°People from Kerala have purchased several thousand acres of land for rubber cultivation. Vast swathes of this land are used to cultivate ganja,¡± the trekker said.
Another source said villagers were the worst hit as the writ of the ganja cultivators runs in these parts.
¡°Even if the villagers have to go to their own houses that surround these estates, they have to sign register books. This mafia cannot run without political support,¡± said the source who lives in the foothills of the Western Ghats.
reuters/representational image
¡°Ganja is increasingly being grown in the mountain valleys just outside the Shola forests. Cultivators need places that do not retain rain water and at the same time are not exposed to extreme shade or sunlight,¡± said another trekker, adding he has been warned not to talk about it by both cultivators and forest officials.
Denying the claims, divisional forest officer V Karikalan said ¡°not a single case of ganja cultivation¡± had been registered in his division limits. ¡°There could be naturally growing ganja in the forests. I am not aware of it. Also, there are possibilities of ganja being cultivated in private properties. Such properties do not come under the purview of the forest department,¡± he said.
Superintendent of police BR Ravikanthegowda was not available for comment. A forest official said the possibility of ganja cultivation could not be ruled out.
¡°It¡¯s like a doctor assuring his patient that he is fine despite which he may die the next day. We may encounter one such case (of growing ganja) tomorrow after I tell you today that such cases have reduced,¡± the official said.
Over the years, ganja cultivators who allegedly enjoy the patronage of political bigwigs in Bengaluru expanded their territory. Trekkers are discouraged from taking certain stretches on the pretext that they are haunted. A Kannada movie, ¡® 6-5=2¡¯ explored the subject.
reuters/representational image
Three trekkers went missing under mysterious circumstances at Aramane Gudda in June 2006. Their van was found near a temple and their skeletons were found in 2007. Their details never came out. According to popular theory, they were murdered by the ganja mafia for entering their territory in the forest.
Data with Mangaluru¡¯s City Crime Records Bureau shows that in 2016, police booked 239 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and arrested 306 people. In 2017, 278 cases were registered and 401 people arrested. Ninety four arrests have been made in 64 cases until June this year.