Farmers want Odisha CM to resolve paddy purchase problems

BARGARH: A day ahead of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s visit to the district to announce disbursal of input subsidy of Rs 800 for paddy, farmers on Saturday staged dharna at Gandhi Chowk in Bargarh town to draw attention of the state government towards the issues affecting the procurement process in the region.

Wearing black badges as a mark of protest, farmers under the banner of Jay Kisan Andolan, began the sit-in protest which continued for hours. Raising the slogan, ‘Chaasi Kula Jawab Maage, Mukhyamantri Jawab Diya’, farmers alleged the autocracy of millers and middlemen was still prevalent in several mandis of the district.

“Contrary to the claims of the state government, we are still facing deductions and this exploitation is due to use of grain analyser machine which is rejecting most paddy as non-fair average quality (non-FAQ),” they alleged further claiming that the new system has generated fear among the farmers besides helping millers to loot.