By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 27,2021: A BJP legislator from western Odisha district of Deogarh has threatened to immolate himself alleging irregularities at procurement centres in his district.

“I will immolate self if the paddy procurement process was not streamlined and faulty token system was not addressed,” BJP MLA Subash Chandra Panigrahi threatened the legislative assembly on Friday while senior Congress leader from Bolangir district, Narasingha Mishra staged protest in the middle of the House alleging irregularities in procurement.

Amid continuing farmers’ protest over paddy procurement in Odisha, Panigrahi’s threat came just days after state cooperation minister Ranendra Pratap Swain told the assembly that the paddy procurement during the 2020-21 kharif marketing season had crossed last year’s record. Against procurement of 53.31 lakh tonne of paddy in 2019-20 kharif marketing season, Odisha State Civil Supply Cooperation had procured over 57.67 lakh tonne of paddy till February 25.

Despite the record paddy procurement this season, farmers across the state resorted to wildcat protests against the procurement system.

Unlike previous years, this year, the protest from farmers and farmer organisations in Odisha during the paddy procurement seems to be shriller across the state.

In Harichandanpur block of Keonjhar district, angry farmers staged a dharna and blocked the highway bypass by pilling up sacks of unsold paddy on Wednesday stopping vehicular movement along the Naranpur-Duburi road.

In Patrapur area of Balasore district, hundreds of farmers stacked their paddy on road, protesting the delay in procurement. Last week, in western Odisha district of Bargarh, farmers dumped around 5000 quintals of unsold paddy protesting the non-procurement. In Angul district, farmers under the banner of All India Kishan Khet Majdoor Sangathan hit the streets demanding the withdrawal of the faulty token system for procurement of their crops.

Paddy procurement plays a critical role in the state’s rural economy. Odisha is among the top rice-surplus states in the country. Paddy is purchased from farmers who register themselves with their nearest societies before the start of procurement operations by submitting their personal/land/ bank account details through a pre designed registration form.

The societies digitize the registration forms and upload the details in the Farmer Registration portal. All farmers have to provide identity proof in terms of Aadhaar cards. Registered farmers are then given advance tokens through SMS about the date of purchase.