Dy commissioner of Pune division, Suhas Diwase, claimed that the discovery was a “routine find by the police”.
The discovery of sustained cultivation of opium yielding poppy over large tracts of land in Sangli which has stunned the cops seems to have no effect on the revenue department.
Suhas Diwase, deputy commissioner (revenue) of the Pune divisional commissionerate, claimed that the discovery was a “routine find by the police”.
Over the past few weeks, police had stumbled upon almost 60 acres of fields of opium cultivation in Beed and Sangli districts. While speaking to the media, Digamber Pradhan, additional superintendent of police, Sangli, had claimed that the finds point to a large-scale racket of opium smuggling.
Also, the Sangli police had arrested seven farmers for their alleged involvement in the cultivation and formed 12 teams to meticulously comb the district to unearth more such fields. Police had also hinted on the possible collaboration of the revenue officers, who they claim had turned a blind eye towards this problem.
While speaking to DNA, Diwase also stated that no move would be made by the office of the divisional commissioner to see if cultivation of the opium producing poppy was happening in the rest of the division.
“It was during a routine enquiry that the police stumbled upon the fields of opium producing poppy, and we do not think it is wide spread in the division,” he said.
The five districts of Satara, Sangli, Pune, Kolhapur and Solapur come under the Pune divisional commissioner.
Although Diwase confidently denied the occurrence of similar cultivation in the division, senior revenue officers, on condition of anonymity, did not rule out the chances of the same.
“Cultivation of opium producing poppy needs to be done in remote areas due to the fact that the flowers produce very strong fragrance. While in Pune district such remote areas are hard to find, areas of Solapur, southern Kolhapur can have such cultivations as they are remote,” the official said.
State Home Minister RR Patil, who incidentally also hails from Sangli, had announced that special enquiries would be set up to investigate the role of the revenue officials in the whole process. However, when asked about the same, Diwase skirted the issue by claiming that no such orders have reached them yet.
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