Rourkela: Thanks to rational thinking by citizens and CCTV footage, a major law and order problem was averted on the eve of Ganesh Puja in Rourkela Friday.
With a day to go for the Ganesh Puja celebrations, locals and organisers of the Daily Market Puja pandal discovered the severed head of a calf near the pandal in the early hours of Friday. The market, a vegetable wholesale hub, is commonly referred to as Sabji Mandi.
The news spread like wildfire and a large crowd gathered near the pandal within no time. Fortunately, there was no tension and everyone decided to inform the police and wait for the outcome of the investigation.
The cops arrived immediately, recovered the animal body part and launched an investigation to ascertain how it landed at the place. Following spot investigation, the police decided to rummage through the footage of CCTV cameras mounted at shops in the vicinity, and also those temporarily installed by the puja organisers at the pandal for crowd management and visitors’ safety. Much to the relief of everyone, the footage revealed that the animal body part had been carried to the place by stray dogs.
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SDPO Zone 1 Nirmal Chandra Mohapatra said, “It was a sensitive matter and my team spared no time in seeking help of CCTV footage in the locality to establish the facts. While scanning the feed, we came to know that some stray dogs had found the animal body part somewhere else and dragged it up to the place, before abandoning it.”
Mohapatra added, “We will take up the issue of an increase in stray dog population and the nuisance caused by them with the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) authorities. These strays are causing many problems, from traffic to spreading litter.”
Sometime back, two persons were bitten by stray dogs near the Daily Market area. A member of the puja organising committee said, “The rail lines run the vicinity. The calf might have been run over by a train, and stray dogs might have dragged its body parts.”
PNN