Nuapada: Angry over short supply of urea, its black marketing and drought situation, hundreds of farmers united under Jay Kishan Sangram Parishad undertook a Chasi Bachao padayatra from Kurumpuri to Nupada Collector’s office Wednesday.
They laid siege to national highway-353 for hours bringing the traffic to a standstill, a report said. According to the report, shortage of urea fertiliser has affected farming in Nuapada district while drought situation has loomed large.
“For the last five years, the district has been witnessing drought conditions, breaking the backbone of farmers. The government is doing nothing to alleviate the plight of farmers. Affected by droughts, people are bound to migrate to other states,” farmer leaders fumed.
The farmers wanted to submit a memorandum over their 11-point demands to the Collector. As farmers tried to enter the Collector’s office, they had a faceoff with police.
Reports said the Collector was not available for farmers. Later, sub-collector Taranisen Nayak met agitating farmers and received their memorandum. The farming in the district had always been affected by natural disasters, but affected farmers have not been compensated properly, they alleged.
PNN
