Hundreds of farmers of Nuapada district under the banner of Jai Kishan Sangram Parishad held a rally and staged a dharna in front of the Collector's office on Wednesday.
They pressed for three demands -- procurement of paddy, payment of crop insurance and filling of vacancies in agriculture and allied departments.
Jadumani Panigrahi, who led the farmers, informed that over 75,000 bags (37 quintals) of paddy of hundreds of farmers, who have already been allotted tokens, are lying unsold in the mandis of the district as the administration is not taking any step for its procurement.
Further, the farmers have also thousands of bags of paddy in their houses which they are unable to bring to the mandis because the tokens are yet to be generated for it.
About the nonpayment of insurance, Panigrahi informed that more than 2,700 eligible farmers of the district have not been paid insurance against loss of crops during the 2017 Kharif season. Besides, 60% of the posts of officials in agriculture and allied departments are lying vacant. The Sangram Parishad has given an ultimatum to the district administration.
"We have informed the ADM, who received our memorandum today that if the demands are not fulfilled in next few days, we will resort to agitation again," said Panigrahi.
Other leaders present were Prasanna Padhi, president of District Bar Association, Atindrajit Singh Mallik, Kamalesh Dikshit, Lalaram Sahu, Bharat Raut, Gobinda Sahu, Chensingh Majhi, Minketan Majhi and Gaurishankar.