Baripada: Civil Supplies officials of Kaptipada seized paddy weighing more than 150 tonnes from a godown during a raid at Godagaon under Kaptipada police limits, on Monday. It is alleged the paddy was being stockpiled for smuggling to West Bengal.
As per reports, the raid was carried out under the supervision of the Sub-Collector in the presence of the local Tehsildar. After finding huge piles of unauthorized paddy being kept at the godown, the Civil Supplies officials sought an explanation from the godown owner. However, the owner failed to give a satisfactory reply to justify the reason behind keeping huge stockpiles of paddy. The officials also seized the truck loaded with paddy.
Kaptipada Tehsildar Asish Kumar Mohapatra said, “We came to know about unauthorized paddy being kept at a godown and raided the godown. When we asked the owner to produce a document about paddy, the latter failed to produce any document leading to the seizure of the godown under the Essential Commodities Act. We will report it to higher authorities who will take the final call.”