Normal life hit in Western Odisha due to farmers’ ‘chakka jam’

Sambalpur: Normal life was disrupted in the districts of the Western Odisha due to a three-hour strike called by farmers’ organizations demanding fulfillment of 12-point charter of demands.

Hundreds of trucks and vehicles remain stranded on both sides of the National Highways and State Highways running across the districts of the western Odisha.

Most of the farmers’ organisations in the westerns Odisha joined the strike called by the Paschima Odisha Krushak Samanuya Samiti.

The demands of the farmers included publication of white paper on farmer suicide, Rs 5 lakh compensation to kin of the farmers who ended their lives and Rs 10,000 per acre ex-gratia to farmers who suffered crop loss.

Paschima Odisha Krshak Samanuya Samiti convener Ashok Pradhan said, “Though more than a hundred of farmers committed suicide, the government has not accepted the deaths were due to crop loss and debt burden. This is a matter of anguish.”

Echoing similar views, Paschim Odisha Krushak Sangathan convener Lingaraj said, “The government should accept the cases of farmers death and fulfil the 12-point charters of demands.”