Quintals of wheat decay at Etawah station due to official neglect

ETAWAH - Large quantity of wheat, stored in gunny bags, has been lying in open at Etawah Railway Station of Uttar Pradesh for many days.

A major part of the precious food grain has rotten here for last two months. Today, it is misfit to be consumed by livestock.

The administrative neglect has left quintals of this wheat, which could have been used by needy people, has rotten today.

“This (wheat) has been lying and rotting on the tracks for months. It has rained for two to three times. No senior official is ready to look into what is happening here. Stray cattle come over here to feed on this rotten wheat,” said K K Gupta, a local resident.

Many residents and frequent users of train services from Etawah said that their complaints often fall on the deaf ears of concerned officials.

“It has been lying here for months. When we complained, they (officials) said let it be as it is. But they get very aggressive when somebody tries to take away a bag-full of wheat,” said Shekhar Pandey, another resident of Etawah.

What has perturbed the commoners is that almost the entire opposition parties led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left Front observed a nationwide dawn to dusk shutdown against the price hike of petroleum products and spiralling inflation on July 05 whereas nearly a hundred quintals the staple grain of wheat have been left at the mercy of weather gods at Etawah Railway Station. (ANI)