Eluru: Minister for excise K. Samuel Jawahar announced that AP to be free from ganja soon. Speaking to newsmen here on Friday, the minister said that they had noticed illegal cultivation of ganja in 11 mandals in Visakha Agency and added that in order to destroy ganja, special task forces were set up. He said that in the first phase of exercise to destroy ganja, as many as 21 lakh ganja plants were destroyed and nearly 80 per cent of ganja cultivation in Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB).
He said that their efforts to make state free from illicitly distilled liquor were giving good results and added that they were responding to the complaints of brewing of illicitly-distilled liquor in 12 hours and curbing such practice. The minister said that they were developing Kovvur as a tourism hub at a cost of Rs 600 crore and added that they had identified nearly 1,000 acres unused land along the river course and vowed to develop amenities for the benefit of tourists. Mr Jawahar said that YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy would land in jail before general elections scheduled to be held in 2019 and criticised him for taking up padayatra only to safeguard his assets.
