Distress sale of paddy is Hirakud dam's failure each year!

The Hirakud dam was imposed on people of Sambalpur district in the 50s.  People were driven out of their homes at gun point and were never rehabilitated properly.  The planners, obsessed with big dams, kept justifying this as development by 'modern temples of India'.  Flood control, irrigation and electricity production were marketed as best bets for this development.  Flood control has miserably failed; electricity generation has also succumbed to pressure from industrial houses and the modern farmers - a bi-product of the canals - are forced into a continuous struggle to market their produces.  The people who were displaced could never get benefit of the modern canals and the ones who benefited could never benefit from the escalated farm produce.  Hirakud was, has been and will remain a failure for the people of this region...

At the moment thousands of farmers are facing numerous challenges to sell their paddy in the market yards.  The government machinery, despite promises made each year as part of the preparations, fails in helping the farmers.  As a result, the private mill owners' benefit and farmers face distress SALE...