BHUBANESWAR: Over 200 farmers under the banner of Naba Nirman Krushak Sangathan were stopped by the police near Sishu Bhawan Square on Thursday when they were going towards Naveen Niwas to protest against the centralised token system for paddy procurement.
“We want the new token system to be immediately de-centralised. In case, any error occurs while issuing the token, the farmers will have to travel to Bhubaneswar to solve their issues,” Naba Nirman Krushak Sangathan’s national convenor Akshaya Kumar said.
The organisation’s State coordinator Sesadeva Nanda said under the new system, the farmers will receive messages on their mobile phones about the date of paddy procurement but many cultivators are not technology compliant. Farmers from Khurda, Puri, Cuttack, Bhadrak and Balasore districts participated in the protest.
NKS members, who have been holding movements seeking price, prestige and pension since 2010, said if their demands are not met by the budget session of the Assembly, they would intensify the agitation.
“Over 70 protestors were detained on the day. However, everyone was later released,” Bhubaneswar DCP Anup Kumar Sahoo said.