War on Drugs: The uncheck loopholes
- Imphal Times Editorial :: March 27, 2021 -

The Modus operandi of Poppy Plantation in far flung hill area in the state of Manipur no longer is a secret.

The illegal cash crop simple is not planted in wild but cultivated with utmost care. As the talk about mass plantation of the Poppy plan in the state of Manipur spread far and wide, people knows how it is being cultivated.

When people knows the process of the cultivation, it will be no wrong to assume that those law enforcers, fighting against the drug menace certainly knows double times the knowledge of the common men.

But what makes people wander is that, when those in the profession of fighting against ‘drugs’ knows how it has been cultivated and grown, why their job is only destroying of the grown poppy plants.

Why are these people in the government not taking up any action to sabotage the plantations? Why are they let free to the poppy growers during the process of cultivation by allowing them buying all the requirements for cultivation of the poppy plants?

Interestingly, a news report appeared in a Imphal based daily newspaper said that the police or the law enforcers sometime destroyed the poppy plant after it has been harvested. This made the people skeptical on the sincerity to the part of the government in its war against drugs.

Well, the law enforcers, particularly those in the Narcotic Affairs of Border (NAB) a special cell to counter the drug menace in the state have detail report of when, how and where the poppy plantation are taking place.

When a common man knows that poppy plantation required a lot of hard labour and money for procuring grass cutters and killers as well as fertilizers, there is no doubt that they know where the poppy cultivators procured the requirements and when.

It is now a common knowledge to many people that the poppy plantation usually starts during the month of November or October and harvested in the month of February and March.

The Poppy simply don’t grow wild so the poppy farmers first cuts all the trees and kills all the grass in the place that they are supposed to cultivate the poppy plants.

For these the farmers need pesticide or jungle cutter or any similar chemicals in large quantity which they have to buy it from a shop.

These chemicals are only available in exclusive stores opened mostly at Imphal and other urban areas.

Later, they need salt, that too in large quantity to kill the grass when the poppy plants started growing. These salt they procured is mixed with water and sprinkled so that grass grown in between the poppy plants are killed.

Later, they used Urea fertilizers and then Diamond fertilizers for good harvest. By the month of February or March the farmers hired some professional harvesters.

Now, why the police or those at NAB are allowing transportation of huge quantity of grass killer chemicals, salt, Urea and Diamond fertilizers after the harvesting season of common crops like paddy has been over. And that too at Hill district.

If the law enforcers are sincere enough in combating the drug menace and to stop poppy plantation then immediate action should be initiated by checking transportation of the chemicals use for cultivation of the poppy plants.