Overview
- Police say 45-year-old Nepal Majhi of Jadamunda village consumed poison and died while receiving treatment, an event reported to have occurred on June 22 that has sparked local unrest.
- Majhi’s family and fellow farmers say he was under severe stress because his paddy was unsold despite a procurement token issued at the end of May, and they report large unsold stockpiles at the Jadamunda mandi.
- After Majhi’s post-mortem, villagers placed his body on National Highway-353 and staged a several-hour blockade, submitting an eight-point charter that demanded large compensation, a government job and livelihood support.
- District officials provided Rs 50,000 from a Red Cross fund for funeral expenses and assured that Majhi’s paddy would be procured before the token’s June 30 expiry, while the Nuapada Collector said preliminary inquiries point to a domestic dispute rather than procurement delays.
- The Biju Janata Dal has formed a high-level fact-finding team led by Prasanna Acharya to meet the family and probe the case, a development that could intensify scrutiny of state procurement processes and the risks to farmers from monsoon-damaged stockpiles.