BARGARH: Hundreds of farmers stormed the Bargarh collectorate on Friday alleging widespread irregularities in issuance of tokens.
The agitators under the banner of Sanjukta Krushak Sangathan (SKS) alleged delay in token issuance and lifting of paddy from mandis besides arbitrary deductions on the pretext of quality of their produce. They accused the administration of pushing farmers to the brink of distress.
The agitation brought normal work at the collectorate to a halt as farmers demanded immediate answers from officials.
Farmer leader Ramesh Mahapatra said the situation on the ground was alarming. “Farmers of Bargarh are begging for tokens to sell their produce. As payments are stuck due to delays, they are being forced to go to middlemen. If this continues, rabi cultivation will also be severely hit,” he added.
The agitators said so far, around 33,41,230 quintal of paddy has been procured from 76,788 farmers in the district. In contrast, procurement had crossed nearly 50 lakh quintal during the same period last year. If the procurement continues at the current pace, they will be forced to sell paddy at distress prices to private traders.
The farmers demanded that all pending tokens be issued by January 15 and procurement be completed by the end of this month.
Sub-collector Prasanna Pandey and DRCS Jugal Das received a memorandum from the agitating farmers and assured them that efforts would be made to resolve the issues at the earliest.