Close on the heels of the Union Defence Minister’s giving green signals, the Manipur government has been urged to take a rare opportunity from the Indian Air Force to destroy poppy plantations in the hills at a fast pace.

Maheshwar Thounaojam, the national general secretary of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) during a public meeting at Hao ground, Imphal on Saturday has said that he urged the Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh to translate the green signal given by the Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh into actions at the earliest.  Maheshwar said that during his meeting with the Union Defence Minister in New Delhi on October 2, the Defence minister informed him that IAF was instructed to destroy poppy plantations in the interior parts of Manipur before harvest during this season.

Maheshwar said that he would meet the Manipur Chief Minister in a day or two to destroy the poppy plantation so as to break the backbone of the narco-terrorism occurring in this strife-torn state.

Meanwhile, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren, in his efforts to renew the war against drugs, has stated that the destruction of poppy plantations using Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers would start after a survey of poppy plantation areas is completed. The scale of poppy cultivation has spread across 15,400 acres of land in the hills between 2017 and 2023 in Manipur.

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