Nuapada: Normal life in several parts of Nuapada district came to a standstill after hundreds of farmers resorted to road blockade over delay in procurement of rabi paddy here Monday.
Vehicular movement was affected for several hours following the dawn to dusk road blockade. The road blockade was lifted with the intervention of the administration. The agitating farmers relented after assurance of immediate procurement by the millers.
With the onset of monsoon, farmers may face unwanted problems, thanks to the indifferent attitude of the paddy millers. Tonnes of paddy stacked at the mandis are yet to be collected.
Leaving their work, farmers have been spending sleepless nights at the mandis, guarding their produce. With no procurement, the paddy has started sprouting after getting wet in the rain. This will only add to the miseries of the farmers who are reeling under severe crop loss and debt burden.
Despite repeated complaints, no one bothers to lift paddy from the farmers. Fed up with the official apathy, the farmers have resorted to road blockade Monday.
The aggrieved farmers were spotted picketing on Khariar Road, Tarbod, Jadamunda and Beltukuri National Highway.
“It has been two months since we harvested our Rabi crop and brought our produce to the mandis by spending huge costs on transportation. But, now the millers have been demanding additional paddy. When we express our inability, they are rejecting our paddy. Our produce has been dumped at the mandis and we are waiting here, abandoning all our work,” a farmer expressed his anguish.
A total of 6,000 rice packets are stacked at Tarbod mandi, 4,000 at Beltukuri and another 5,000 at Jadamunda mandi. The angry farmers have placed their paddy on National Highway and staged a sit-in in protest.
On the direction of the District Collector, additional district supply officer Khanduram Naik reached the spot and pacified the farmers. The farmers relented after the officials assured to lift their crop at the earliest.
PNN
