BARGARH : Bags of paddy dumped by agitating farmers at the district collectorate reportedly went missing on Friday, prompting the cultivators to file a complaint in Bargarh Town police station in this regard.
The incident comes a day after farmers, who are awaiting procurement tokens, staged a unique protest by bringing their harvested paddy on motorcycles and dumping it on the collectorate premises.
The farmers said they left the paddy bags at the protest site on Thursday afternoon after no official came forward for discussion. They reportedly waited for authorities to respond to their demands regarding issuance of tokens and procurement of their paddy. When no official turned up for talks, they returned home leaving the paddy sacks at the collectorate in the presence of police personnel deployed there.
When the farmers returned to the spot on Friday morning, they were shocked to find that the paddy bags had disappeared. The farmers then contacted the Town police, which reportedly asked them to check with the district registrar of cooperative societies (DRCS). However, the DRCS too claimed to have no information about the missing paddy.
Farmer leader Ramesh Mahapatra said, “It is shocking that paddy brought by farmers as part of a democratic protest could go missing from the district collectorate premises. The administration must launch an investigation into the incident and find out who removed the paddy and why.”
Leaders of Sanjukta Krushak Sangathan also demanded a probe into the incident.