In a fresh strike against leakage of farm subsidies, Odisha Vigilance on Tuesday arrested Sripati Pradhan, former secretary of the Kalla Primary Agricultural Co-operative Society (PACS) in Debagada district, for allegedly embezzling government funds amounting to ₹16,72,567. He was produced before the Special Judge, Vigilance, Sambalpur, after arrest.
The alleged offence took place in the 2024-25 financial year. Officials said a detailed verification of Kalla PACS accounts showed that Pradhan systematically falsified registers, ledger entries and inventory books. The doctored records were used to hide the illegal diversion of fertilisers supplied for local farmers and the conversion of sale proceeds to personal use. Investigators concluded that the public money was pocketed, leaving cultivators without the subsidised inputs the state had intended for them.
Raurkela Vigilance Police Station has registered Case No. 11 dated 1 September 2026 under Section 13(2) read with 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018, and Sections 316(5) and 344 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Investigation continues.
PACS societies sit at the last mile of rural credit and input supply. They are the outlets through which many small and marginal farmers in districts such as Debagada receive fertiliser under government programmes. When stocks disappear from the books and cash from sales never reaches the society, the loss is not only financial. It directly hits sowing decisions, yields and household incomes in an agrarian pocket that already operates on thin margins.
The accused has been forwarded to court. Further recovery of funds, examination of remaining records and statements of farmers who were denied fertiliser will form the next phase of the probe.
