Opposition MLAs from BJD and Congress on Saturday, February 21, 2026 in Bhubaneswar protested in the Odisha Legislative Assembly during question hour against irregularities and mismanagement in awarding contracts to paddy farmers by the BJP government. Photo credit: PTI
The Biju Janata Dal has demanded the resignation of Minister of State for Supplies Kruhna Chandra Patra following the death of Trilochan Nayak, a farmer whose family claimed the deceased died after waiting for four days with his paddy supplies at a shopping center in Odisha’s Kendrapara district.
According to Duryadhan Nayak, the deceased’s brother, the farmer died on February 25, having previously spent three days exposed to the elements at a paddy supply center while guarding his rice stock day and night. He attributed his brother’s death to the acute mental stress and difficulties he faced at the center.
BJD Vice President Debi Prasad Mishra said in a press conference on Thursday (February 26, 2026) that the BJP government has miserably failed to purchase paddy fields, which has worsened the condition of farmers.
“Due to this failure, farmer Trilochan Nayak lost his life. The deceased farmer received a token on January 16. However, 6 kilograms per quintal was deducted from his produce during the cutting and sorting process. According to his family, Mr. Nayak faced repeated harassment at every stage when he tried to sell his paddy,” said Mr. Mishra.
The BJD vice president said, “The farmer was instructed to deliver his paddy to Ramchandi Mill but was made to wait there for three days before completing the procurement process. State Supply Minister Mr. Patra claimed in a video message that procurement of rice in the state is going smoothly, which is a blatant lie.”
Deceiving the public
“The death of a farmer from Rajnagar area of Kendrapara exposed this false claim. There were contradictions in the minister’s statements. In a rally last Tuesday, the minister had said that 64.10 million metric tonnes of paddy vegetables had been procured so far. But in a subsequent video message, he claimed that 63.65 million metric tonnes had been procured in two days. He is misleading the public,” said Lenin Mohanty, BJD spokesperson.
According to BJD leaders, 193 lakh metric tonnes of rice was produced in the state this year as per official statistics.
“While the BJP government promised to procure the entire paddy field, only about 63 thousand metric tonnes, around 33% of the total production has been procured so far. As the procurement is to continue only till March 31, it is unlikely that the government will be able to procure the remaining paddy field in just one month,” they said.
Rajnagar tahsildar, Jishukhrista Das, said, “I inquired about the purchase of rice from a particular farmer. To be precise, 38.92 cents worth of rice belonging to the deceased farmer was obtained earlier this month and payment was also made accordingly.”
The farmer’s family members had not formally complained about the difficulties he faced in purchasing paddy fields, Mr. Das said.
Published – 26 Feb 2026 21:52 IST
