PCC president Niranjan Patnaik on Sunday warned the State Government that if it does not procure all the paddy stocks from mandis, the Congress would launch protests in front of all block offices and mandis.
Patnaik alleged that the Government has paralysed the entire procurement process by remote-controlling the system from Bhubaneswar. He pointed out that earlier natural disasters damaged produces of farmers; and now the systemic failure of the Government has added to the woes of farmers. In this context, the Congress demands that all the farmers waiting to sell their paddy should be immediately issued tokens, Government should reactivate lapsed tokens and stop the Katni-Chhatni (commission) system and the burden of gunny bags should be held with millers rather than farmers, he said. “The Government should immediately announce to purchase all paddy stocks without any delay; otherwise, we have no option but to resort to agitation,” Patnaik warned.