Sambalpur: The Supreme Court has suo motu registered a public interest litigation over the deaths of a man and his son, both farmers, due to illness as they failed to avail timely treatment owing to non-payment of the sum due to them from paddy sale, a report said.
The deceased farmers were identified as Dileshwar Patel and his son Sunil Patel in this district.
The apex court registered the case (55761/SCI/PIL/2021) and admitted it for hearing following a complaint filed by a farmers’ outfit Jai Kishan Adima Krushak Rakshya Sangathan.
The outfit had also lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The survivors of the deceased received the payment June 5 after the NHRC intervened in the matter.
Subsequently, 22 farmers also received their payment. The matter came to the fore after the apex court registry issued a notice to Jogabihari Parida, the convener of the outfit.
Parida welcomed the decision of the apex court in admitting the complaint as a case and issuing notice for hearing.
Ashok Pradhan, convener of Paschim Odisha Krushak Sangathan, alleged that the government officials are involved in corruption in paddy procurement and demanded departmental proceedings against the wrongdoers.
He said that since the Supreme Court will hear the case now, a proper probe will nail the officials involved in wrongdoing. It is alleged that the faulty policy of the state government on paddy procurement and the negligence of the district administration in making timely payments to the farmers cost the lives of Dileshwar and his son.
Reports said that Dileshwar had undertaken paddy cultivation on five acres owned by him. He had registered the name of his son with the local self-help group (SHG) for paddy procurement for the 2020 Kharif season.
Sunil was issued a token having ID-1005 for sale of 66.22 quintals of paddy. The father-son duo sold their paddy at the mandi but failed to receive their payment for the sale.
Later, Dileshwar tested positive for Covid-19 and died within a few days of being infected. His son Sunil died 10 days later.
The farmers’ outfit alleged that the two failed to avail timely treatment due to lack of money as they had not been paid the amount due to them for paddy sale.
PNN