Palamu police have identified as many as 20 plots of land under its one police station Manatu where poppy is grown. Poppy is a banned crop but since it is a cash crop farmers get tempted to grow it in which the CPI Maoists used to give a protective cover.
Some of the poppy locations in Manatu thana are Jaspur, Dhansarwa jungle, Baskatiya, Sarguja, Daldalya, Siknee, Chitrahee, Fatarya, Lalki Mamari jungle, Uroor jungle, Sikda, Balah nullah etc.
Indrajeet Mahatha SP Palamu said, “Police have identified these locations where now poppy growing will be impossible. Our men will keep a tab on these locations here. “Police have with it geo locations with its longitude and latitude of these poppy places, he added.
SP further added apart from Manatu, Panki and Tarhassi police stations too are poppy prone where our vigil is high.
Places where poppy is grown have one thing in common. It is a nearby water resource. Poppy cannot be grown without water. And further remoteness and inaccessible locations are preferred by poppy growers to save themselves and their crop being raided by police. Police use JCB machines now to destroy the crop, said sources.
Earlier the crop was set afire but now to protect jungles around surface destruction of standing crop is done by men ( read cops) and machines ( read JCB machine).
The SP said, “There has been a significant decline in poppy cultivation in Palamu. It was done on 180 acres in 2016 -17. In 2017 -18 it is just on 25 acres. This is the steep fall in the yield of poppy here. In another year this may be further brought down.”
On number of FIRS lodged in this case SP said it was around 18 or 19 in 2016 -17 but in 2017 -18 there were just 6 FIRs lodged against poppy growers.
Poppy is mostly cultivated on forest land! This is done deliberately. Raid on forest land gives a kind of respite to grower as police fail to establish the title ship of land which is of forest department. Again police are to depend upon Rajaswa Karamchari, CI, CO to establish the ownership of land where the banned crop stands. That takes a lot of time, he said.
Sources said the steep fall in poppy growing in Palamu is also due to the weakening of Maoists here. Maoists used to give protective umbrella to its growers but now they are themselves on their way out thus their grip has loosened.
SP maintained that police’s massive drive against poppy cultivation and awareness campaigns asking people in remote of Palamu to refrain from this illegal cultivation have also scaled down this menace to a great extent. He said villagers have been told of the jail punishment if caught growing or dealing with poppy.
Palamu and Chatra are the notorious districts for poppy cultivation. Police sources said there are middle men here who arrange doda or semi liquid poppy preparations for its illegal transit up to locations in Rajasthan and Punjab as well.
“ Human trafficking is a big issue and so is the issue of poppy cultivation here in Palamu but steps are on to curb and contain it” said a senior police officer who had served here as SP but preferred not to be identified.