Farmers lose all to game of dice

SAMBALPUR: It’s opera time in this part of the State. They run full house bringing  smiles to wrinkled faces of farmers devastated by drought, untimely rains and the recent flood.However, the fun comes with a rider which is ‘Gudgudipatti’. A game of dice that ensures quick bucks and the hapless farmers are lured to it with a hope to repay the loans. Sources said a small group in the village patronised the operas and lured the crowd for a game of ‘Gudgudipatti’. The game is allegedly run in connivance with the local police.   The protests accusing the organisers of intimidating the crowd are muffled with the district administration looking the other way. The game involved a board and six dice with six different symbols, ‘Pan’, ‘Bairag’, ‘Thikdi’, ‘Chidi’, ‘Dhandi’ and ‘Mundi’.People bet on the symbol and get handsome returns if a similar symbol is reflected on the dice after they are spread. The debt-ridden farmers often end up losing the game but the hope to rake in moolah and repay loans bring them back to  ‘Gudgudipatti’. They even stake their family silver.People here feel the need for the administration to come down heavily on the organisers and a clampdown on the game to save the farmers.