BJD seeks Odisha Minister’s resignation after farmer dies while waiting at procurement centre

The Biju Janata Dal has demanded the resignation of State Supply Minister Krushna Chandra Patra following the death of Trilochan Nayak, a farmer, whose family alleged that the deceased died after having waited four days with his paddy stock at a procurement centre in Kendrapara district of Odisha.

According to Duryadhan Nayak, brother of the deceased, the farmer died on February 25, prior to which he had spent three days exposed to the weather at the paddy procurement centre while guarding his paddy stock day and night. He attributed his brother’s death to acute mental stress and difficulties he faced at the centre.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday (February 26, 2026), BJD vice-president, Debi Prasad Mishra alleged that the BJP Government had failed miserably in paddy procurement, which had worsened the condition of farmers.

“Due to this failure, a farmer, Trilochan Nayak, lost his life. The deceased farmer had received a token on January 16. However, 6 kilograms per quintal were deducted from his produce during the cutting and grading process. According to his family, Mr. Nayak faced repeated harassment at every stage while trying to sell his paddy,” said Mr. Mishra.

The BJD vice president said, “The farmer was instructed to deliver his paddy to Ramchandi Mill, but he was forced to wait there for three days to complete the procurement process. The State Supply Minister Mr. Patra, in a video message claimed that paddy procurement in the State was running smoothly, which is a blatant lie.”

Misleading the public

“The death of the farmer from the Rajnagar area in Kendrapara has exposed this false claim.  There were discrepancies in the Minister’s statements. In the Assembly last Tuesday, the Minister stated that 64.10 lakh metric tonnes of paddy had been procured so far. However, in a subsequent video message, he claimed that 63.65 lakh metric tonnes had been procured. Two different figures in two days proves that the Minister is misleading the public,” said Lenin Mohanty, BJD spokesperson.

According to BJD leaders, 193 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, as per official statistics, have been produced in the State this year.

“While the BJP Government had promised to procure all the paddy, only about 63 lakh metric tonnes, approximately 33% of the total production have been procured so far. Given that procurement is scheduled to continue only until March 31, it is unlikely that the government will be able to procure the remaining paddy within just one month,” they said.

Rajnagar tahsildar, Jishukhrista Das, said, “I inquired about paddy procurement from the particular farmer. Precisely, 38.92 quintal of paddy belonging to the deceased farmer had been procured earlier this month and payment had also been made accordingly.”

Family members of the farmer have not formally complained about the difficulties he faced during paddy procurement, said Mr. Das.