Farmers in the Pune district will now get arm licences at the tehsil offices for protecting their crops, as the tehsildars (executive magistrates) have been empowered to grant arm licences to farmers for this purpose. Meanwhile, arm licences for self-protection will still be issued by the resident deputy collectors, who are the additional district magistrates in the district.
Earlier, arms licences for both self-protection as well as protection of property (in this case, protection of crops) were given by an officer of the resident deputy collector rank, as he held the delegated power of the collector as the licensing authority. This meant a long-drawn, tedious and often expensive process for the farmers, who would have to visit the kacheri or the collector’s office quite a number of times, as well as other offices, including police station, for the completion of documentations.
Now, though, the authority to grant arm licences for the two different purposes has been bifurcated, and the procedure for acquiring the licences has been made simpler in the Pune district. This move came after several cases came to light of packs of wild boars and other wild animals ruining not only the standing crop in the field but also that kept in the barns.
In this new process, after the appeal and the documents are submitted employees of the tehsildar’s office will go to the residences of the farmers, however remote these places may be, to check the antecedents of these applicants.
These officials will also verify and assess the danger posed by wild animals to the crops in the area. The tehsildar will then grant the arm licence, subject to a final report and approval from the superintendent of the police and forest departments officials.
In interior areas of rural Pune, the wild boar population has increased and these animals are known to be severely hampering rice and other crops. Also, in the northern part of the district, there have been threats of leopard attacks, which too are scaring the farmers, the resident deputy collector of Pune, Anil Pawar. He added that having the weapons would also be useful to drive away petty thieves from farms.
However, there had been a tendency to acquire an arm licence as a status symbol and even for illegal purposes among politicians, builders, sand miners, contractors and other moneyed classes. According to Mr Pawar, by not delegating the powers of granting arm licences for self-protection to the tehsildars as well, the state has kept the required tab on the indiscriminate issuing of licences.