Every day for nearly 40 days, Trilochan Nayak, 53, walked to the local cooperative society about 4 km away from his village Junagadi in Odisha’s Kendrapada district, to check dates to sell his paddy. Every day, he returned without a proper response, says his family.
When the society secretary suggested he approach a rice mill located about 20 km away directly, On February 25, came the clearance from the mill.
Before the news reached him, Nayak was dead.
According to his family, the 53-year-old had spent his last three days under the open sky outside the mill, without food.
On Friday, Nayak’s wife Bharati lodged a written complaint with the Rajnagar tehsildar, under whom Junagadi falls, alleging that the “harassment” by the cooperative society secretary and miller caused his death and demanding action against them. She also sought a judicial probe into the matter.
The Kendrapada authorities deny the charge, saying their probe had shown that Nayak’s paddy had been procured by the cooperative society and that he had received money for it. They attribute his death to previous health issues, leading to a cardiac arrest.
Nayak’s elder brother Duryodhan says the 53-year-old was worried about delay in paddy procurement as he had a debt of Rs 1 lakh. Nayak depended on earnings from a 1-acre farmland to make ends meet, and had taken the loan three years back for his daughter’s wedding.
Another of Nayak’s daughters works as a tailor in Bengaluru and earns about Rs 8,000 a month, while the son, a graduate, is looking for a job, says Duryodhan.
The family lives in a two-room thatched asbestos house, and Nayak had been hoping to build a pucca home once he had some savings.
Nayak’s story
The Iswarpur cooperative society has around 660 farmers registered with it, including Nayak, for selling paddy at the minimum support price of Rs 2,369 per quintal.
Nayak’s family members says that on January 16, he got an online message from the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Department – which is counted as a token – saying he could sell nearly 39.90 quintals of paddy within a month (that is, before February 15) at the Iswarpur society.
However, the society allegedly didn’t procure his paddy, even after conducting an iris scan on February 14. The eye-based biometric authentication is mandatory before paddy procurement in Odisha, to curb sale by unregistered farmers.
For this season, the Iswarpur society has a target of procuring 11,000 quintals, and officials said the target had already been met.
Taking the paddy to the mill, as allegedly suggested by the society secretary, required extra money. Duryodhan says he and his brother arranged tractors on rent for Rs 9,000 to transport the paddy, and paid another Rs 3,000 as unloading charges there.
“But we had to wait three days, from February 23. There are no shelters at the mill, and there is no place to eat in a 5-km radius. We managed by eating cake and biscuits,” says Duryodhan, 55, adding that they could not leave the paddy behind to go look for food.
“When Trilochan started feeling uneasy, I suggested he go home and that I would stay back for the miller to weigh and buy the paddy,” says Duryodhan.
Nayak managed to get a ride for some time, but had to cover the rest of the distance on foot. He collapsed on arriving home, complaining of chest pain, says son Subhrakant, and they rushed him to the local Primary Healthcare Centre.
From there, he was moved to the Rajnagar Community Health Centre. Late on Wednesday evening, doctors declared him dead.
Kendrapada District Collector Raghuram Iyer told The Indian Express that they had ordered two separate inquiries into Nayak’s death, one by a team of the Supplies and Cooperation Departments, and another by a local tehsildar.
“Record verification during the preliminary probe shows that the farmer (Nayak) sold around 39 quintals of paddy at the mandi and an amount of Rs 1.10 lakh was credited to his account on February 18. He withdrew some money later, and his current bank account is Rs 73,000,” Iyer said.
Officials part of the probe say that, prima facie, it appears Nayak had some health issues, and this might have triggered a cardiac arrest.
However, it is not clear why Nayak took his paddy to the mill on February 22, if he had sold his produce at the society on February 14. The family has a signed receipt from the miller confirming sale of 51 quintals of paddy, on February 25, the day of his death.
Efforts to talk to the society secretary were unsuccessful.
Rashmi Ranjan Mohanty, the medical officer at the Rajnagar Community Health Centre, says: “The doctor at the PHC referred him to us apprehending cardiac arrest. Without waiting for an ambulance, the family members got him here, where the doctors declared him brought dead. The family members then didn’t listen to the doctor on duty, and took the body saying they would take him to a higher centre.”
Duryodhan admits no postmortem was done.
Cooperative Minister Pradeep Bal Samannta, who argues that it’s hard to believe that someone died due to waiting for too long, has admitted a delay in weighing and accepting paddy at different mandis “due to the lack of adequate storage facilities”.
Storage capacity has been a perennial issue in the state, but no concrete steps have been taken in this regard. In the Budget for 2026-27, the BJP government has made a provision of Rs 100 crore to develop 100 Smart Farm Markets or ‘modern mandis’ to ensure transparent and efficient agri-trade.
For 2025-26, the Odisha government has a target of procuring 93 lakh metric tonnes of paddy – 73 lakh during the Kharif and 20 lakh during the Rabi (summer) season – from nearly 20 lakh registered farmers.
Data with the state’s Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Departments, which is responsible for paddy procurement, shows that over 64 lakh metric tonnes had been procured till February 24, and over Rs 18,000 crore transferred into accounts of farmers, who need to be registered with cooperative societies at state-sponsored mandis to be eligible.
Political heat
The opposition BJD claims the procurement system in Odisha has completely collapsed under the BJP government, and alleges massive “katni-chatni (illegal deductions)” at mandis by millers.
Senior BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra has accused Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra of telling “blatant lies” and demanded his resignation.
Before Nayak’s death, BJD president and former CM Naveen Patnaik attacked the state government at a convention on February 24, accusing it of “failing farmers despite tall election promises”.
The barb was directed at the BJP’s attacks against his government of “farmers’ distress” during the 2024 elections, while promising an MSP of Rs 3,100 per quintal for paddy.
Samannta said the ongoing inquiry will establish the truth. “Nayak might have had other diseases or died due to other reasons or a cardiac arrest.”
Patra promised that if the probe points to any lapses by any officials, action will be taken accordingly. He also assured that the procurement of paddy will continue till March 31.
Trilochan Nayak (left); his wife with officials. (Express photo) 
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