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Rotting wheat raises a stink by Gurdeep Singh Mann

Lakhs of rotten wheat bags in open godowns of different villages of Fatehgarh Sahib are emanating unbearable stench after recent rains.

Villagers of Ranwan, near Khamano, and Kotla Bhaika in Sirhind are suffering due to the lakhs of rotten paddy and wheat bags lying in open godowns for the past many years. Nearly 2.5 lakh bags lying in Kotla Bhaika are creating nuisance for the villagers, who have stopped visiting the surrounding areas of the open godowns fearing ailments.

A visit to the godown in Kotla Bhaika revealed that most of the wheat has got damaged, on which insects could be seen moving. “We have covered all wheat bags with plastic sheets, but most of its lower layers have got completely damaged during recent rains and water has still not evaporated from these bags,” said one of the workers in the godown.

The workers said the wheat was rotting for the past three years and every year during monsoon the percentage of damage increases manifolds. “We have been spraying medicines and uncover the bags during sunlight, but the entire lot seems to have got damaged during these years,” they added. “Due to the foul smell emanating from the rotten wheat bags, no passersby could walk through the road without covering his face,” said Preetam, a resident of a nearby village.

The railway employees and few workers in the godown are the worst affected, as the godown is situated adjoining the railway crossings. “We feel like running away from the place during night hours, as insects and mosquitoes increase manifolds, when it gets dark,” said Sulakhan Singh, an area resident.

MD Punjab Agro SK Sandhu, admitting the problem, said he had visited the place last week and they were planning to shift the entire lot of the wheat bags to some other place due to the delay in its lifting.

“Process of segregating the good grains from the rotten is on and many of these bags have been removed from the godown. The damaged foodgrains will be auctioned and action has already been initiated against the erring officials”, he said.