locals irked over 'Samalai Hundi' thieve

Condemning regular theft from the Hundi of the famous maa Samaleswari temple, locals demand proper investigation to trace the culprits. A group of local youths under the banner of the Sambalpur Jagaran Manch submitted a memorandum to the district administration on Friday. They also asked the administration to provide regular police patrolling during night hours around the temple to ensure no further repetition of such incident.

“We are quite surprised on the repeated incident of theft from the temple Hundi Even godly places are not spared. So we submitted a memorandum to the district administration to trace out the culprits and to ensure proper security arrangement in the temple during night hours” Goutam Halder, the convener of the Manch told.

Sources said, Samaleswari temple of Sambalpur is quite famous in the locality as thousands of devotees visit the temple every day. But on special occasions, especially during ‘Dushhera’ the number goes up. Huge collections of donations are expected from devotes through the ‘Hundi’. But the managing trustee remains in dark about the exact collection of donation because of the regular theft incident. Miscreants decamp with money by breaking the lock of the ‘hundi’.

“We do not know the exact amount of collection from the Hundi because of theft. We make a complaint before the police every time it occurs but police are yet to trace the culprits. So we are planning to install close circuit camera inside the temple very soon’, president of the temple trustee Sadashiv Mohapatra told.

It may be mentioned here that miscreants decamped with huge sum from the ‘hundi’ breaking its lock just couple of days ago. Police registered a case basing on the complaint of the managing trustee but failed to trace the accused. “Investigation is on. But we are yet to find out the culprits”, town police officer Akash Sahu told. “It is a serious issue. I will personally request the SP to investigate the matter”, the ADM NK Satpathy assured the members of the Manch while receiving the memorandum from them of Friday.