Bhubaneswar, March 9 Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy on Monday asked the state government to inform the House about the details of the death of a farmer in Kendrapara district, allegedly due to harassment during the ongoing paddy procurement season.
In a ruling, Padhy said that the concerned minister will inform the House before the end of this session about the death of the farmer and the findings of the subsequent inquiry into the matter.
The Speaker’s ruling came after the issue was raised during Zero Hour by Opposition Chief Whip Pramila Mallik of BJD, who said that a farmer identified as Trilochan Nayak of Junagadi village under Rajnagar tehsil in Kendrapara district developed chest pain after returning home from a rice mill in February.
Mallik claimed that the man died due to harassment during the paddy procurement. The BJD leader asserted that, though he was issued a token to sell his paddy, the farmer was told to take his produce to a private rice mill where he waited for three days.
But he could not avail the proper rate as per the MSP (minimum support price) over his entire paddy lot for which he had been in mental stress and died, Mallik alleged, and demanded a ruling from the Chair.
BJD MLAs Dhruba Charan Sahoo and Ganeswar Behera also raised the issue and expressed grief over the farmer’s death.
They alleged that the farmers across the state were subjected to misery due to gross mismanagement at the state-run mandis during the paddy procurement.