Naxalites encourage opium cultivation in Jharkhand

Naxalites in Jharkhand are encouraging cultivation of opium poppy plants to fund their operations in the region.

Chatra/Hazaribagh (Jharkhand), June 5 : Naxalites in Jharkhand are encouraging cultivation of opium poppy plants to fund their operations in the region.

The anti-narcotic agencies have found out that hundreds of villages such as Irkhori, Simaria, Barkagaon, Gidhaur and Pathalgarh areas of Jharkhand's Hazaribagh and Chatra Districts are being used for opium cultivation.

Local heroin traders buy the opium from the farmers who find it profitable.

"People are taking more interest in cultivation of opium than any of their basic crops like rice and wheat," said Gariban Paswan, a State intelligence officer, Chatra.

Strict enforcement measures by the anti-narcotic cells in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have resulted in a shortfall to the tune of 40 percent in the needs of heroin and psychotropic drugs makers.

However, they have made up this deficit by procuring poppy products and morphine from the remote areas of Hazaribagh and Chatra Districts.

J.B. Mahapatra, Director General of Police, Jharkhand said that the police take action against poppy cultivators whenever they get information. Many a time police face problems in entering the villages as Naxalites have a stronghold there.

Even experts from other States come to train the cultivators in refining and packaging of the psychotropic drugs.

"The cultivation of opium should not be allowed. After getting permission from Narcotics Control Bureau only, this farming can take place at a suitable place," said Kameshwar Mehta, Assistant Excise Commissioner, Hazaribagh.

The cultivation began in the remote areas of Patthalgadda in Chatra district and Katkamsandi in the Hazaribagh district two years ago.

Today, poppy cultivation in Jharkhand has spread to nearly a dozen blocks comprising 300 to 350 villages, and covering an area of 18,000 to 20,000 acres.

Intelligence officials believe that the value of poppy cultivation and opium trade in these two districts alone stands at around Rs 1,000 crore a season. A season lasts from October to March.

Maoists operate in 182 districts in India, mainly in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

ANI