BALASORE: Over 1,000 farmers of Baunsapal village in Nilagiri block have threatened self-immolation to protest against the delay by agriculture officials in inspecting their paddy crops damaged due to pest attack.
The farmers alleged that they are already reeling under heavy losses due to intrusion of elephants into their cropland. Now, the damage to paddy crops caused by pest attack has worsened the situation. The farmers claimed that they had said informed the authorities concerned about the pest attack. However, the officials are yet to inspect the pest-infested crops and assess the damage.
Rajendra Behera and four other farmers of of Baunsapal village said they had cultivated paddy over three acre of land. Despite applying festilisers, the crops were damaged by pests. “We had applied chemical fertiliser but it did not save our crop from the pests. Some farmers even set fire to their pest-infested crops to protect the nearby agriculture fields from getting affected,” said Behera.
Sources said following the pest attack, farmers of the village are now unsure of repaying loans which they had availed from local money lenders and the cooperative society. Contacted, chief district agriculture officer Nikunja Kishore Rout said he will look into the matter.
Ex-sarpanch held for threatening MVI
Jagatsinghpur: Former sarpanch of BiAdyadharpur panchayat in Raghunathpur block Surya Narayan Barik was arrested on Wednesday for threatening officials of Transport department’s enforcement squad during a vehicle checking drive at Tarapur Chowk on Cuttack-Paradip state highway. Sources said Barik threatened MVI Prasant Mohapatra with dire consequences for checking his vehicle. It is alleged Barik was drunk when he issued the threat.