Suppress the smuggling of areca nuts from Myanmar: A Mizoram MLA's Letter to the PM

• Image Credit: Internet

• Nov 8, 2022 | Sourav Boruah

Digital
Desk: A Congress MLA wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting
assistance in halting the smuggling of areca nuts from Myanmar, which has
harmed Mizoram farmers.

Lalrindika
Ralte, a congress MLA from Mizoram, claimed that areca nut smuggling from the
neighbouring nation had swamped the state with the commodity, harming local
growers' sales.

Although
the Home Ministry has instructed the governments of Mizoram and Manipur to stop
the extensive illegal import of areca nuts from Myanmar across the porous
borders, according to Mr. Ralte, the Mizoram government has not taken
significant action to combat this threat.

The
Congress MLA wrote in the letter that "the Mizoram government's reaction
to this hazardous scenario has been dismal and short of expectation from a
state administration."

Local areca nut growers are dealing
with the issue, and according to him, Assam law enforcement agents are unable
to distinguish between areca nuts grown in Myanmar and those in Mizoram.

While Assam has been making every
effort to prevent the entry of illegal areca nuts, he claimed that in Mizoram,
law enforcement officers have frequently seized locally cultivated areca nuts
since they are unable to tell the difference between unlawfully imported type
and local ones.