Representative image.
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Thiruvananthapuram: As the price of coconut sky rockets a village in Kozhikode district is witnessing a spurt in coconut thefts.
Aggrieved over the issue, the land owners and farmers filed police complaints, installed CCTV cameras and formed an action committee to jointly resist the theft.
Kuttyadi on the suburbs of Kozhikode, which is known for high yielding coconut trees, is witnessing law and order problems over coconut as some action committee members also faced attacks over the issue.
While the coconut price was only around Rs. 30 per kilogram till recently, now it is around Rs. 80.
According to the local police, as many as five petitions pertaining to coconut theft ranging up to 500 coconuts were received. "The accused are yet to be identified. The investigation is progressing," a police officer of the Thottilpalam police station near Kuttiyadi told DH.
In a bid to resist the theft, the action committee has requested local shops to be alert against suspected thieves who try to sell coconuts. Autorickshaw and goods carrier operators of the region were also advised to be alert against persons carrying coconuts in large quantities.
Action council convenor A P Ali said that the thieves were mainly targeting farm lands where owners were not present at the spot. Some farmers who tried to resist a theft attempt also came under attack. "We do not suspect the involvement of any migrant workers. It seems to be some local people with shady background who are involved in the theft. Earlier there used to be instances of people taking fallen coconuts. But now coconuts are stolen from the trees themselves," he said.
President of the local panchayat (Kavilumpara grama panchayat) George Ponnattil said that since coconut was not fetching much price earlier, many coconut farm owners were not caring for their farms much. But now that the price of coconut skyrocketed, the land owners were really worried over the coconut theft.