To choke the flow of funds to left-wing extremists in the state, the Bihar Police has intensified crackdown on cultivation of illegal poppy in Gaya, Aurangabad and Jamui districts.
The anti-Naxal crackdown by the Special Task Force (STF) along with other security forces has dried the weapons pipeline leading to the number of armed ultras dropping drastically in the state, said a senior police officer.
"Now the Bihar Police in coordination with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and other concerned wings of the government, have intensified crackdown on cultivation of illegal poppy in Gaya, Aurangabad and Jamui districts in the state", Sushil Mansingh Khopde, Additional Director General (ADG-operations), Special Task Force (STF), told PTI.
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The ADG said despite law enforcement agencies destroying hundreds of acres of poppy plants each year, inputs suggest that clandestine opium poppy cultivation is there in certain pockets in Gaya, Aurangabad and Jamui districts.
"Inputs also suggest that Maoists have been using opium cultivation as a source of revenue in these areas. They levy a 'tax' on poppy cultivators and small enterprises. Law enforcement agencies destroyed around 600 acres of poppy plantation in these areas in 2021 and in 2022 around 1200 acres were destroyed", the ADG said.
In India, opium poppy cultivation is prohibited, under Section 8 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
"The concerned district police and other agencies have been instructed to keep a vigil on clandestine opium poppy cultivation in specific areas in the district", he said.
Now, Naxals are fighting for their existence in Bihar as the Union Ministry of Home Affairs recently removed six districts from the Left Wing Extremist insurgency list, Khopde said, adding currently only 10 districts are considered Maoist-affected in the state.
"The number of Maoist-affected districts will further reduce in the coming months. No major Maoist incidents have been reported till June this year", the ADG said.
"Some armed cadres are only concentrated on the hills of Chakarbandha on the Gaya-Aurangabad border near Jharkhand and in the hilly areas of Jamui and Lakhisarai-Munger. The STF and Central forces have confined them there. We will soon make these areas Naxal-free," said Khopde.
The Bihar government, after a thorough survey of the naxal-free areas, is working on initiating several developmental projects in those areas.
These projects include the construction of 42 roads in remote areas, installation of 67 mobile towers, health facilities and opening of schools. The additional mobile towers will strengthen the telecom network resulting in increased mobile penetration in these areas, said the ADG.