Illegal arms seized by police in Bihar state are being melted down and turned into agricultural tools
PATNA, India (TrustLaw) - Hundreds of thousands of illegal arms seized by police in India are being melted down and turned into agricultural tools to help impoverished farmers in the east of the country, officials said.
Guns, pistols and daggers are among the weapons routinely seized by authorities in Bihar state - once notorious for being the most lawless and poorest region in the country - but remain in police stores rusting and collecting dust.
Authorities said they wanted to find a better use for the arms and came up with the idea melting them down and shaping them into tools such as hoes, spades and hedge-clippers in the largely farming state.
"We are turning the tools of destruction for creation and development. The farming tools made from life-threatening arms will now produce food grains which will feed the hungry," Bihar's director-general of police, Abhay Anand, said.
Around 200,000 weapons, seized during arrests and raids over the last few years and stashed in over 850 police stations in Bihar, are now being made into tools for thousands of poor farmers, say police.
Bihar has in recent years been touted as an example of how India can turnaround from corrupt, caste-based politics and promote infrastructure and development, as well as provide security.
Under its chief minister, Nitish Kumar, a former engineer, Bihar has seen several road projects which have helped boost economic growth to an average 11.3 percent annually between 2004 and 2009, compared with 3.5 percent annually over the previous five years.
But the most visible sign of how much things have improved is that people walk at night on the roads in Bihar. Until a few years ago, even the capital Patna had shut down by the evening, with people locking themselves in their homes, fearing strongmen with guns who used to rob and kidnap.
Under Kumar's efforts to improve law and order, officials say more than 60,000 suspected criminals have been arrested over the last six years and fast-track trials initiated against them.
Anand said turning threatening weapons into useful tools was part of on-going efforts to improve the security and lives of people in the state.
"Bad things don’t die easily. These lethal weapons posed a constant threat. But now they are being destroyed for constructive purposes,” he said.
(Writing by Nita Bhalla. Editing by Alex Whiting)
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