BJP Observes ‘Chakka Jam’ In Western Odisha Protesting Irregularities In Paddy Procurement

Sambalpur: Normal life in western Odisha disrupted as the State unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is observing three-hour ‘chakka jam’ in the region on Saturday protesting non-procurement of paddy and mandi issues faced by the farmers.

According to reports, the protest started at 10 am and will continue till 1 pm. Vehicular movement has been paralysed as BJP supporters have blocked national highways, state highways and other routes under five Lok Sabha and 37 Assembly constituency limits in Western Odisha.

Security arrangements have been tightened at various places throughout western Odisha to deal with any eventualities during the protest.

Earlier last month, the politics over paddy procurement in western Odisha had been intensified with opposition BJP organising a protest of thousands of farmers in Sambalpur accusing the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government of doing a shoddy job of paddy procurement.

At the congregation of farmers, BJP leaders had alleged that despite the Odisha government’s claim of record procurement in the current kharif marketing season thousands of farmers have not been able to sell their paddy to the government.

(Edited by Rashmi Ranjan Mohanty)