Odisha​ farmers spill paddy on roads protesting distress sale

BHUBANESWAR/KENDRAPADA: Farmers from Khurda, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Keonjhar and other districts staged a demonstration in front of respective district collector offices on Thursday protesting the distress sale of paddy.
They spilled unsold paddy on roads and kept sacks of paddy in front of the collectors’ office as a mark of protest.
They alleged that the millers cut around 7kg from a quintal of paddy during procurement in the name of quality. The farmers under the aegis of Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS) demanded the government procure unsold paddy from them under the minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the government.
Seshadev Nanda, NKS state convenor, said they staged demonstrations at around 20 districts in Odisha demanding procurement of paddy with a proper MSP rate of Rs 2,040 per quintal.
“It was a symbolic protest. We will intensify the movement if the government does not stop the distress sale of paddy,” he added.
Rashmiranjan Swain, president of Jagatsinghpur district unit of NKS, alleged that the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) in both the districts were reluctant to purchase paddy from the farmers despite having tokens to sell their paddy.
“Our fate is now hanging in the balance. Adding to woes, tokens of many farmers have lapsed and the Odisha state civil supply corporation does not renew it,” he added.
He also alleged that the government agencies failed to procure paddy from large numbers of farmers.
Bharat Rout, a protesting farmer of Earasama village, said, “I came to the nearby PACS to sell my ten quintals of paddy last week, but the officials of the society refused to procure my paddy".
Another farmer Rajesh Sahoo from Tirtol in Jagatsinghpur district said that he sold paddy at the rate of Rs 1,500 per quintal to a trader last week against the government MSP of Rs 2040 per quintal.
When contacted, Jagatsinghpur civil supply officer (CSO) Sujata Mishra said the Odisha State Civil Supply Corporation has already procured 85,000 quintals of paddy from farmers in the district through 111 PACS from January 6.
“We will procure 10 lakh quintals of paddy from 45,000 registered farmers. We are determined to check the distress sale of paddy by the farmers. On Thursday, we discussed with agitated farmers and assured them to procure more paddy from them till March 31,” she added.
In Jajpur district, collector Chakravarti Singh Rathore sat with the farmers and discussed their issues in detail.
He assured of help in the procurement of the paddy. Around 30 persons were arrested during the demonstrations.