Hundreds of people in a Mizoram district bordering Myanmar have taken to the streets to protest the transfer of an officer who had taken on areca nut smugglers.
The protest organised in the Champhai district by a coordination committee of local NGOs followed a warning from the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) that illegal trade in areca nuts from Myanmar would harm farmers in India.
The Mizoram government had on January 13 transferred Mara C.T. Zuali, who had been cracking down on the areca nut cartel in her capacity as the Deputy Commissioner of the Champhai district. She was posted as an additional secretary in the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and the Planning and Programme Implementation departments in State capital Aizawl.
