The local authorities have been unable to check illegal cultivation of opium and marijuana in the remote villages despite frequent police campaigns to destroy these illegal crops. The failure is largely attributed to the inability of security personnel to reach the remote parts of the district to destroy marijuana and opium plantation and arrest those involved in its production and trafficking.

The local farmers are mostly cultivating opium in the remote parts of Baksirang in Bharta-2, a place where security personnel have been unable to reach as it is surrounded by thick forest.

“Our farm produce don’t have access to the market because this village is not connected to any road. Therefore, we are compelled to grow marijuana and opium as cash crops, as traffickers come to us to buy them and we don’t have to go anywhere,” said a farmer involved in illegal cultivation of opium and marijuana in Bharta.

Farmers in this remote village, which doesn’t even have a police post, have been involved in marijuana farming for the past two years.

“Drug smugglers even encourage local farmers to be involved in opium farming to earn more income,” said a teacher at a local school Bharta. While some reports say smugglers even  fund these farms.

With the money they have made through illegal cultivation of marijuana and opium, some people in Bharta have even bought houses in towns like Manahari and Hetauda.

District Agricultural Development Office, including other social organisations, have been regularly providing agricultural trainings including seeds to local farmers for cultivating green vegetables and fruits. But the local farmers are still not attracted towards production of vegetables and fruits knowing that they will not find the market for their produce due to lack of roadway connecting their village to towns like Manahari and Hetauda.  

Chet Bahadur Thokar, a local teacher said locals will become interested in cultivating vegetables and fruits if Bharta could be connected to Manahari by a roadway.