The problem of selling Rabi paddy in Bargarh district has remained unresolved. Even though the farmers were bringing them to the mandi for sale, the paddy was not bought due to expiration of token, error in the token, humidity in paddy and lack of targets.
This has triggered farmers' discontentment. Led by the Barpali Krishak Manch, farmers in the last few days have been blocking the local Tehsil office and the National Highway in front of the Tehsil office. On Monday, they took to streets and blocked the NH leading to a traffic halt. A large number of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the road. Local tehsildar Akshay Kumar Bag held talks with the agitating farmers. But the talks were not fruitful.
The farmers alleged that some Regulated Market Committee(RMC) ,Civil Supply(CSO)officials, paddy purchasing agents, millers and Dalals are hands in glove that messes up the entire paddy procurement during the Rabi season and sought action against them.
According to the sources, under the corrupt practices, paddy did not come to the Mandis,rather the millers got it directly. The venal staff members made false entries and managed to earn lakhs of rupees by the way. "Paddy was also shifted secretly to other States and districts in a secret manner. However, despite repeated complaints by the farmers on the irregularities, no step was taken by the district administration," charged Jay Kishan Andolan secretary Ramesh Mohapatra.