A total of 1,713 sacks of rice and wheat have reportedly been stolen by a section of out of a total stock of around 11,561 from the government godown at Nayergaon village in Matlab Dakkhin upazila of Chandpur.
Following an instruction from the Deputy Commissioner of Chandpur, Executive Magistrate Runa Laila carried out an inspection at the godown on July 1 to see the latest condition of foodgrains stored there and found 1,500 sacks of rice and 213 sacks of wheat stolen.
Upazila Food Controller Chai Khoayai Marma, OC of Nayergaon Food Warehouse Md Jahangir Alam and Assistant Food Inspector Md Kamrul Islam were also present.
During inspection, it was shown that there was a stock of 7,332 sacks of rice and 4,229 sacks of wheat at the godown.
But it was found that the godown actually had a stock of 5,832 sacks of rice and 4,016 sacks of wheat, showing a shortage of 1,500 sacks of rice and 213 sacks of wheat from the total stock.
The value of the stolen foodgrains is around Tk18.56 lakh, officials said.
When asked about the matter, the food officials present failed to give any satisfactory answer to the magistrate.
The magistrate expressed surprise over discrepancy in the amount of the stored grains.
Being informed by the magistrate, DC Md Ismail Hossain ordered to seal off the go-down. Accordingly, the godown was sealed off in the afternoon on July 1.
Departmental actions must be taken against the food officials responsible for the incident, said the magistrate.
It is worth mentioning that similar incident of stealing food-grains from the government go-down in the district occurred a few years back.
