Allegation against police for throwing vegetables in drain & streets

April 10: Amid 21 days lockdown across India to fight against coronavirus pandemic, instances of violation of lockdown were reported from several places. The police forces are on the roads ensuring that none comes out on the streets without any firm cause. Risking their own lives, the men in uniform are on duty at this hour of crisis. However, certain allegations were made by the people in Silchar regarding police personnel throwing away vegetables in the drains.

The lockdown is essential for breaking the chain of deadly coronavirus. However, for survival, food is also necessary. Farmers are growing vegetables now with utmost difficulty. In Silchar, it has become a common scenario where in order to maintain lockdown and ensure social distancing, the on duty policemen have to drive away petty vegetable vendors from various parts of the town. People have taken to social media to highlight the issue that throwing vegetables by police personnel in the drain at a time when many are starving is indeed very shocking.

One such netizen took to Facebook and wrote on her wall, ” I don’t feel this is the only possible solution for maintaining the lock down. When govt is not arranging home delivery of vegetables, then we have go out to fetch our food. And wastage of food now is something that can’t be accepted at all. Why administration is not thinking about an effective solution for this?” 

Well, many pictures were also circulated in social media where vegetables were thrown by the police in the drain. Another netizen wrote, “Instead of throwing the vegetables in the drain, the police can form a queue maintaining ‘social distancing’ whereby people can buy staying within the protocol.” Another user wrote, “I beg of you. Please don’t throw the vegetables in the drain & streets. Let the administration make arrangement to deliver vegetables in every locality, then automatically neither the vendors nor the customers will come out.” People have requested the attention of district administration in this connection.

When asked about this issue, Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy said, “I understand the difficulties. It is happening in various areas. I have received complaints also. We have had a discussion in a review meeting with the Chief Minister. The District Agricultural Officer was instructed categorically to send all his officers to the field and access the ground level situation. Like many other districts, Cachar too have home grown vegetables. People need not come from outside the district to sell vegetables. So we have asked them to do a fair bit of study and see to it that the vegetables are distributed in each and every corner of the district and help both urban and rural populace as per their requirements.”