Nabarangpur: This was possibly the last thing that two senior BJD leaders, who were on an inauguration spree in Odisha’s Nabarangpur, could have expected. A farmers’ protest greeted them as they made their way to a Krushak Soochana Kendra at the Regulated Market Committee (RMC) office in the district headquarters on Tuesday evening.
On returning to the town after inaugurating a slew of welfare schemes at Raighar block in the afternoon, senior BJD leader and deputy chairman of State Planning Board Sanjay Das Burma and Jajpur MLA and party organising secretary Pranab Prakash Das found hundreds of farmers led by former Nabarangpur MP and BJP state vice-president Balabhadra Majhi and local Congress leaders staging a dharna over paddy procurement in front of the RMC office.
Despite repeated requests from district collector and SP, they refused to relent.
If was then that Das Burma sat down, literally, with the protesting farmers and assured them that he would personally supervise procurement of their paddy on Wednesday.
Criticising the BJP for politicising the issue, he said the state government will take all possible steps to procure paddy from the farmers of Nabarangpur.
“Last year, 15 lakh quintals of paddy were procured from Nabarangpur while this year 16 lakh quintals have so far been procured. I have been informed by the district collector about three lakh quintals of surplus paddy. I will personally supervise the six mandis in the district and will ensure that the farmers get to sell their paddy by Wednesday evening,” Das Burma said.
Talking to the media, the agitating farmers questioned the rationale behind inaugurating the Soochna Kendra at a time when they were waiting at the procurement centre for several days to sell their paddy. “We want information when the paddy will be procured,” Majhi demanded.
The agitating farmers also alleged that the BJD leaders had turned inauguration of the Soochna Kendra from a government into a party event.
