Bargarh: A farmer from Ramkhol village in the Ambabhona block of Odisha’s Bargarh district said that after being “not issued” tokens to sell paddy, he was forced to sell his crop at Rs 1,600 per quintal—nearly half the government-imposed minimum support price of Rs 3,100—to meet necessary medical expenses.
The farmer, Jhadeshwar Patra, has been undergoing treatment at Burla Medical College and Hospital since April 15. According to Patra, during last year’s Kharif season, he and his wife, Tapaswini Patra, cultivated paddy on one hectare of their ancestral land and two acres of his father-in-law’s land. His family registered for paddy procurement on August 25, hoping to receive tokens to sell at the official rate of Rs 3,100 by the end of March. However, they “haven’t received the tokens yet.”
In a separate incident last month, a middle-aged farmer from Junagadi village in the Rajnagar block of Kendrapara district died of cardiac arrest after allegedly being “harassed for a long time” while selling paddy. The issue was also raised in the Odisha Assembly, where Speaker Surma Padhi asked the state government to inform the House about the farmer’s death.
