New Delhi: In a significant development, the Aizawl Bench of the Gauhati high court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a case, if necessary, to probe widespread allegations in Mizoram for some years now of illegal import of dry areca nuts from Myanmar and thereby affecting the livelihood of the local growers.
Farmers in the northeastern border state have been up in arms against the previous Mizo National Front (MNF) government as the rampant smuggling of the nuts, allegedly brought through the state’s Champai district, not only evades import duty but also undercuts local pricing of the nut.
For the last several years, the state police, in spite of complaints, had failed to even register a first information report (FIR), let alone probe the matter that directly affects the local farmers’ income.
In 2021, well-known local social activist Vanramchhuangi also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the Centre’s intervention to put a stop to such import of dried areca nuts from the Southeast Asian countries via Myanmar and through Champhai and Lawngtlai districts of Mizoram into India. Both the districts share the international border with Myanmar. Vanramchhuangi failed to get a favourable response from the Modi government.
Though an FIR was filed at the Champai police station in 2021, no action was taken by the state police.
In May 2022, seeking a solution to the menace, Vanramchhuangi filed a petition in the Aizawl Bench of the Gauhati high court in 2022. She echoed the farmers’ demand that the high court hand over the probe to the central agency as the state government had failed to curb the menace. She named as many as 37 respondents in her petition.
Days after filing the petition, Vanramchhuangi, speaking to East Mojo in Aizawl, had also alleged that the Mizoram government gives ‘Place of Origin’ credentials to the dried areca nuts smuggled through the India-Myanmar border from various Southeast Asian countries. “The contraband is then categorised under GST heading 0802 and attracts a 5% tax,” she had claimed.
She had told the news outlet that numerous routes have been constructed by the smugglers in the Champai district over time to bring the areca nuts from across the international border to India. The report had then highlighted that as per the central Customs department, 9.7 lakh kgs of smuggled areca nuts worth around Rs 132.70 crore were seized during the 2021-2022 fiscal year in Mizoram.
Smuggled dry areca nuts seized by Mizoram Police. Photo: Mizoram Police (https://police.mizoram.gov.in/)
The farmer’s disappointment at the state government’s inability to act on the matter went on to become an electoral issue in the 2023 assembly polls that toppled the MNF government.
In January this year, the Gauhati high court had asked the new state government led by the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) to initiate a probe into the allegations.
Hearing the case this past May, the HC had raised serious concern at the state government’s failure to act on it despite its order and had summoned the chief secretary seeking a reason for the inaction. The court expressed surprise that no take action was taken by the state police on the FIR filed in 2021 at the Champai police station.
The news report had highlighted that during the court proceedings, “it was revealed that while the Directorate of Horticulture, Government of Mizoram, reported a total areca nut production of 33,540 metric tons (MT) in 2019-2020, the Directorate of Arecanut & Spices Development (DASD) reported only 10,840 MT for the same period, with no production in Champhai district. Additionally, affidavits from various respondents indicated discrepancies in the issuance of e-way bills and the actual production of areca nuts in Mizoram.”
This June, local farmers demanded that the state shut down the godowns that hoard the smuggled goods.
With no visible action taken even by the new dispensation on the matter, the high court, on July 19, handed over the probe to the CBI.
Upon being contacted, Vanramchhuangi told The Wire from Aizawl, “I am happy about the high court’s order.” She hopes the farmers of the state get justice, “The smugglers are not paying the import duty on the smuggled areca nuts and are thus selling their smuggled items at a lesser rate, compared to the rates offered by the local growers. This has to stop to protect the interests of the local growers.”
A copy of the court order shared by her stated that the decision to ask the CBI to probe the matter was taken “due to the stand taken by the state police that they are unable to investigate the said matter thoroughly as it involves international smuggling, originating from Myanmar”.
The court, disposing of the petition, added, “Further, the offence pertains to commercial transactions for which a fair and impartial inquiry amongst others, can be achieved only by an investigation undertaken by the CBI. Accordingly, the CBI shall investigate the matter and register a case, if necessary, and take it to its local conclusion”.
