Srinagar, July 29 -- Two years ago, local friends in Pampore asked me to see something for myself.

I travelled with a cameraperson to a stretch of land beside the saffron fields and found devastation I still struggle to describe.

Rodents had dug enormous burrows through more than 2,000 kanals of farmland, devouring the corms that saffron farmers depend on to grow Crocus sativus, the flower prized around the globe for its crimson threads.

The damage wasn't done by careless neighbours or desperate scavengers. It came from the Municipal Committee of Pampore, the very body charged with enforcing India's waste management laws.

I returned to these fields recently at the invitation of farmers from Patalbagh, Chandhara and Galander, and what ...