Sans surveillance, paddy stolen from procurement centre in Odisha’s Nuapada 

Lack of surveillance measures at some procurement centres in Nuapada district has become a cause for concern for farmers. Paddy was allegedly stolen at a procurement centre in this district, exposing such lapses. 

Some of the farmers, who have stocked their paddy packets outside the procurement centre of Gandamer Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society (PACS) in Komna block, brought the allegations on Monday.

As per reports, scores of farmers brought their paddy to the PACS two days ago after getting tokens for procurement. However, the PACS authorities allegedly did not make any arrangements for shade for the paddy, forcing the farmers to stock their crops in the open. Neither the provision of CCTVs nor the deployment of guards has been made, farmers lamented.

Taking advantage of such lapses, some miscreants have allegedly taken away 10 sacks of paddy.

Farmer Debdas Nial alleged, "My token was meant for selling the paddy on December 2. So, we had stocked 26 sacks of paddy at the yard of the procurement centre on December 1. In the evening, I checked my paddy stock. All were intact. Next day we saw one of the packets is missing.”  

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Upset over the theft of the crop, farmer leader Jadumani Panigrahi said, "About 10 packets of paddy of our farmers have been stolen from the procurement centre. Who will be responsible for that? The procurement centre has no proper road, and no protective measures for the paddy. The Collector had earlier assured of CCTV provision, but nothing of that sort was done.”

Speaking on the issue, Bhaktacharan Bisi, an employee of the local regulated market committee, said, "Some farmers have complained about theft of their paddy packets. A night watchman is coming regularly and doing his duty properly. He is not sure if the paddy packets have been stolen or not.”