Charbel: Fate of Cannabis Farmers Lies in Hands of Ministerial Committee
A ministerial committee set up to resolve the problem of cannabis farmers in the eastern Bekaa valley will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said.
Charbel told An Nahar daily that a solution to the cannabis fields mainly in Bekaa’s north is now in the hands of the committee that will discuss a development plan for the Baalbek-Hermel area during its meeting under Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail.
“It’s important to resolve this problem so that it doesn’t occur each year and it’s necessary to come up with a final result that would benefit the owners of the lands that have received promises in vain in the past 43 years for the state to help them,” he said.
The cabinet approved the formation of the committee during a session it held at the summer residence of President Michel Suleiman in Beiteddine following several hours of deliberations.
Acting Information Minister Wael Abou Faour said after the session that the committee’s task will be to make practical proposals to address underdevelopment in the Baalbek-Hermel area within a month.
But the government’s decision fell short of expectations to give financial compensations to the cannabis farmers who held a protest over the weekend in the Bekaa town of al-Yammouneh against the Internal Security Forces for destroying their fields.
Charbel visited the town on Sunday and promised to resolve their case in return for the end of the sit-in.
The eradication of the crops has also led to gunbattles between the farmers and the ISF.
By Friday, the ISF had destroyed 6,615 dunums of fields in the Bekaa.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://cdn.naharnet.com/stories/en/49169 |