Farmers burning crops to escape detection in Pune

Days after the Pune rural police discovered opium poppy cultivation in two fields in the Shirur taluka, reports are coming of farmers burning portions of their crops to escape detection.

Police inspector, Ashok Khirsagar, of Pune rural police, while talking to DNA, said, “Searches across the taluka did not prove fruitful, but we have got reports that in certain parts farmers have burnt some portions of their crop.”

On Wednesday, Pune police had unearthed two acres of opium poppy intercropped with onion in the villages of Nharve and Vadgaon Rasai in Shirur.

Satish Korekar and Dattatreya Chavan were arrested, and a total of 75 kg of opium poppy pod was hauled by the police.

Post the raids, Khirsagar said that the police had continued with their combing operations. “However, we were not able to make any headway as the farmers were smart enough to take steps to destroy the crops,” he said.

“The raids in Nharve and Vadgaon Rasai were carried out on the basis of information received. Post the raids, due to the extensive coverage in the media, the information system has also fallen silent all of a sudden,” the source said.