Farmer dies, family alleges harassment
Kendrapara: A farmer in Kendrapara district died of cardiac arrest on Thursday, allegedly after facing harassment during the ongoing paddy procurement process, his family claimed. The deceased, Trilochan Nayak (47) of Junagadi village under Rajnagar tehsil, developed chest pain after returning home from a rice mill late Wednesday night.
He was declared dead at Iswarpur public health centre (PHC) on Thursday, family members claimed, adding that doctors told them he died of cardiac arrest. Nayak is survived by wife and a 19-year-old son.
The incident comes amid allegations of mismanagement and harassment of farmers during paddy procurement across the state. “An administrative inquiry is underway to ascertain the veracity of the charges levelled by the family members,” Kendrapara Collector Raghuram R Iyer said.
According to the family, Nayak had received a token from the local primary agriculture cooperative society (PACS) to sell his paddy between January 16 and February 24, but was allegedly not allowed to do so. “Instead, they asked Nayak to sell it at a private miller at Dangmal, about 20 km from the village,” alleged Duryadhan, Nayak’s brother. Later, Nayak hired a tractor and took his paddy to the private miller, where he was made to wait for three days.
The family alleged that Nayak was distressed as he could not secure a remunerative price for his entire produce. Gobind Jena, secretary of the Dangamal PACS, rejected the allegations and claimed he had not asked Nayak to sell his produce to a private miller.
