ON a freezing night in December, the tension in the air at the police headquarters at Chamba, high in the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas, can be cut with a light-touch knife. Officials strap themselves with self-loading rifles (SLRs) and carbines, pat their holsters to make sure the service revolvers are in place. Capped, sweatered, booted, they step out into the silent darkness in search of their prey: drug-traffickers.Not an usual sight in northern Himachal Pradesh, but it may well become one they grow used to. The record 106.5 kg of charas (hashish) seized this year in Chamba — up from the usual 20-kg hauls — indicates that drug-traffickers seeking to shift base from the well-policed Kullu-Manali areas have set sights on Kangra and Chamba.‘‘It’s definitely an alarming trend,’’ says DIG Northern Range K C Sadyal, admitting that drugs were a growing menace in a previously ‘clean’ area.CODENAMED CANNABIS AK-47, Shanti Baba, White Russian, Black Rhino. Not exotic codenames, but merely three of the varieties of Cannabis grown in the higher altitudes of the Himachal. The other popular varieties: Sunburst, White Widow, Kalimist, Skunk Balls, Choco-Yesh, Malana Cream. The varieties are distinguished on the basis of resin content, which experts can determine simply by holding the cannabis leaves in the hand. Malana Cream (named after a village beyond Manali) is the most expensive variety — ranging between Rs 8,000 and Rs 12,000 — because of its heavy THC (tetrahydrocannibinol) content, which determines the quality of the ‘high’, followed by the Mandi and Chamba produce.The first warning, though, didn’t come locally. It was a phone-call from the Home Ministry — an extremely rare occurrence in this part of the country — about two months ago that set the alarm bells ringing. The caller informed officers here that Delhi Customs had seized a drug consignment addressed to Sweden; the sender was a resident of McLeodgunj. Such calls may be routine for the ministry, but this was the first time Chamba was at the receiving end.The alert comes even as authorities here accept the fact that 600 bighas in the upper reaches of Chamba have been turned over to the cultivation of cannabis (charas is the extract of its resin). The reasons are two-fold: rising unemployment, and periodic failures of the apple crop (this year, too, drought affected the orchards badly).‘‘It is a matter of concern that orchard-owners, first in Kullu and now here, find it profitable to turn over their land to cannabis cultivation when their regular crop does not bring the desired returns,’’ says a senior police official here. The economics explain why: If a kg of apples fetches Rs 40, a kg of cannabis would be worth at least Rs 5,000 to the grower.High unemployment among local youth makes sure the profits remain high. Armed with their thorough knowledge of the mountainous terrain, these ‘foot couriers’ are the lifeline of the illegal business.SHADOW BATTLE Chamba plans to adopt measures adopted successfully in Kullu in fighting the drug trade. Among the plans: • Motivating farmers to grow cash crops • Popularising cultivation of hybrid garlic and cancer-fighting herbal plants under a UN programme • Mass counselling through police officials and NGOs • Involving schoolchildren in alerting villagers about dangers of cannabisIf Chamba’s concern is cultivation, Kangra is worried about Dharamsala turning into a transit point for peddlers. ‘‘In 2000, the Kangra police registered only five cases under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act. It went up to seven in 2001 and 18, till November 1 this year,’’ say district police officials. They suspect it is the easy availability of the drug that is prompting traffickers to map new routes to Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, and thence to wider domestic and international markets, via Dharamsala.Again, it is money that talks. ‘‘One kg of cannabis would cost between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 in the Himachal trade. The moment it crosses the border, it will fetch Rs 30,000. Once it is in Delhi, it will be worth Rs 1 lakh, and three or five times that in Goa or in the international market,’’ say police officials. With both Kangra and Chamba closer to Punjab than to Kullu — the only Himachal district to have an anti-drugs cell — the risks, as well as the transport costs are much lower with the new route.The large numbers of foreigners who visit Dharamsala and McLeodgunj, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, provide a ready market for traffickers seeking to make a quick buck. ‘‘Settlements of foreigners are increasing in the remote and rural areas around McLeodgunj,’’ observes a police official. ‘‘Where there is demand, there will be supply.’’Sadyal, however, is confident that the police can take on the new challenge posed by drug-traffickers. ‘‘Their idea that the Kangra Valley is a safe haven will prove to be a misconception,’’ he promises.‘After every raid, they move higher into the mountains’M K Singh, Director-General of the Narcotics Control Bureau, believes drug-traffickers are being forced to change their routes because of the crackdown on cannabis cultivation. He spoke to Chitra SubramanyamThe Fight Against Cannabis ‘‘The drug trade has shifted focus to Kangra and Chamba because of the continuous raids on Kullu and Manali by the NCB and the state police. Every year in October, we conduct raids on Himachal regions with the idea of eliminating the crop totally. Cannabis grows wild in most parts of Himachal, but the planned cultivation is largely confined to the upper reaches. This year, we destroyed cannabis on 1,400-bighas of land in Kullu and Manali. We’ve noticed that after every such operation, the growers move higher into the mountains.’’ The Impact on Tourism ‘‘I don’t think our raids will adversely affect tourism in the Himachal. I agree, some tourists visit the valleys with the sole intention of accessing cannabis. But we are more interested in the foreign nationals who are into trafficking. These people keep changing.’’ But Destruction Is Not A Solution ‘‘We conduct our raids every year, targeting private land, organised farms, forest lands, even government land. But I don’t believe they are the solution. There has to be an alternative developmental plan, as practised in other countries, where we provide farmers with not just an alternative crop, but a total plan, one that can substitute cannabis as a cash crop. In Thailand, 50 per cent of the poppy fields have been given over to orchid cultivation. I believe the same can be done in Himachal.’’ The Farmer Is the Loser ‘‘The farmer makes barely seven to eight per cent of the total money in cannabis. Middlemen make the maximum profit. We have to give farmers a plan that ensures they make more than they do growing cannabis.’’ Not an Organised Trade ‘‘So far, the hashish trade in Himachal is not organised. God help us when it does become organised. So far, we still have an upper hand here. But once it becomes organised, we’ll have to deal with narco-politics.’’
