Malkangiri: The Collector’s office on the main road here was paralysed after Congress workers blocked its gates by stacking paddy bags outside it Monday.
Congress workers led by former MP Pradip Majhi and hundreds of farmers dumped around 500 paddy bags outside the entry and exit gates of the Collectorate and opened temporary mandis.
The incident took everyone by surprise as the Congress workers managed to stack over 500 bags of paddy outside the gates of the Collectorate keeping everyone in the dark.
The incident is considered an Intelligence failure as the police did not have any inkling about the party’s plan to paralyse the Collectorate by dumping paddy outside its gates.
The Collector and other officials could not enter the Collectorate through the main or the exit gate. The protesters also laid siege to the main road and threw traffic out of gear.
Police reached the spot and kept a watch on the situation. The district administration did not hold any talks with the farmers or the Congress workers to diffuse tension when reports last came in.
Majhi lashed out at the government for neglecting farmers. He said it is over two months since mandis opened in the district, but only 40 per cent of the paddy has been procured from farmers.
The farmers have stacked paddy bags at various mandis and are guarding them day and night in the chilly weather, but the district administration has not done anything to alleviate their suffering, he said.
This comes at a time when farmers in neighbouring states are selling their produce at high rates. The state government has failed to buy paddy from farmers even at Rs 1,750, Majhi said.
He said his party had drawn the attention of the district administration and the supplies department towards the anomalies many times, but they have not done anything.
Majhi said the government launched PEETHA and KALIA schemes and set up the Adivasi Vikash Parishad for farmers, but the ruling BJD workers are defrauding farmers by misappropriating funds.
He warned the district authorities of continuing stir until they procured paddy from the temporary mandis and other mandis in the district.
District Congress president Gobind Patra, working president Ram Pattnaik, Chitrakonda MLA Daimati Pujari, Mala Madi and hundreds of party workers participated in the protest.
PNN
