The deceased has been identified as Balamani Bhoi of Sambalpuri village under Lakhamar LAMPS un Padmapur subdivision of Bargarh district. He had been part of farmer protest being organised fby the Rajborasanbar Krushak Sanghathan for the last 13 days. He had returned from the protests site on Monday night and died in sleep during wee hours of Tuesday, according to reports.
Balamani had kept 140 packets of paddy at Lakhamar LAMPs for sale to Government since December 22. While his paddy was not procured by the Governemnt, his token lapsed on January 22. He was under severe mental stress, said Nilamani Bhoi, elder brother of the deceased.
It may be noted that farmers have been staging a dharna at the Sub-Collector’s office, demanding regeneration of tokens and procurement of abour 7 lakh packets of paddy from them.