Cattle smuggling rampant in Angul

Angul, Jul 11 (UNI) Hundreds of stray cattle besides many others are stolen and routed to various parts of the country in a gruesome manner from Angul district in Orissa every month, thanks to "callousness" of the state administration.

An organised racket had been operating for a long time to smuggle cattle mainly from urban areas and industrial colonies with impurity. Stray cattle, roaming at urban areas like Angul, Talcher, Athmallik, MCL colonies, Nalco and NTPC areas have become the soft targets of the racket,police said.

The cattle lifters were also found very active in all the cattle hats in the district and peripheral areas. They purchase cattle in exorbitant rates depriving the farmers to compete and buy cattle for the agricultural purposes.

Shedding all humanity, the cattle lifters took the mother cows leaving their calf on the streets. After herding them to a distance these cattles were lodged on trucks like gunny bags to transport to their destinations at Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangladesh through road routes by managing the staff at various check gates.

In MCL colonies like Deulbera, Dera, South Balanda, Bharatpur hardly a cow is seen where sometime ago there was a crowd of cattle.

The cattle thieves of course did not venture into rural areas. The Regulating Marketing Committee authorities here also admitted that the cattle trade was going on a large scale by traders to transport to outside for slaughter.

According to a senior police official, hundreds of cattles are being transported in a very cruel manner like gunny bag in trucks, which are allowed by roadside police stations on grafts.

A former Police Superintendent posted in coastal district said though he had seized many cattle loaded trucks but could not stop the illegal trading for slaughter purposes due to lack of law as a result the illegal and inhuman cattle trade and transportation has become a flushing trade in entire Orissa including at Western parts of the country.

UNI XC DP SJC DB1822