Cultivation of poppy that is infamous for its use in production of opium, seems to be the new trend in Maharashtra. Five days after the police in Beed exposed 100 acres of illicit poppy farms, their counterparts in home minister RR Patil’s sugar and grape-rich Sangli district have bust poppy cultivation on 10 acres. Shocked by the trend, the narcotics control authorities are contemplating using satellite imagery to trace illicit cultivation of poppy in the state. Read More