BHUBANESWAR: As many as 87 cattle heads were seized by police which intercepted four goods carriers at Teispur petrol pump under Pipili police limits late on Tuesday. Four people were arrested for smuggling the cattle to West Bengal.While such police action does come up from time to time, illegal smuggling of cattle from Odisha is thriving. Such seizures are just a tip of the iceberg as hundreds of cows are smuggled through the Capital every week but police prefer to turn a blind eye to the illegal trade.
A convenient alibi for not cracking down against these smugglers is lack of cow shelters in and around Bhubaneswar. There are only two cow shelters close to the City, one in Choudwar which can house 200 cattle and the other at Patnaikia near Sakhigopal with a capacity of 100 to 150. “If we seize the cattle, we do not have any place to keep where they can be taken care of,” says a policeman.With the police indifferent, cattle trade goes on unabated. Sources point out that the trade has its roots in the three cattle markets at Balugaon Haat, Begunia Haat in Khurda district and Sakhigopal Haat in Puri district.
Locals sell the cattle in the weekly markets which are later purchased by smugglers. There is no ceiling on the number of these hapless animals that could be sold. All that these traders have to do is pay at entry and exit points and the fees go to the respective panchayats.
With no checking to ascertain why the cattle are purchased in such large numbers at the weekly markets, traders openly purchase livestock and transport it too, right under the nose of police. The cattle are transported to Kolkata in different kinds of vehicles through National Highway on the Khandagiri and Puri by-pass Road. As per their modus operandi, the vehicles are stuffed with containers and escorted by four to five cars in which the group’s men carry cash to bribe policemen, when intercepted.
The members of the smugglers have informers on Bhubaneswar-Cuttack highway to alert them about the route. Says a betel vendor: “These informers come to my shop in auto-rickshaws every week between 12 midnight and 12.30 am and stay till 2.30 am. They keep updating the smugglers if the the route is clear or not,” he says.Although the Commissionerate Police had patrol cars that man the NH, with a traffic police station at Phulnakhara, no one bothers to keep a watch.