The farmer cm Chief minister Naveen Patnaik pushes a bullock-driven plough to mark the beginning of harvest at Marichi village on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, May 6: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik donned the role of a farmer today on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya that heralds the beginning of the harvest season.

Though brought up in Delhi, Naveen has fallen in love with Oriya culture and has been doing the honours on the day, officially celebrated as the Farmers’ Day, for the last eight years.

Drumbeats got louder and crackers burst as Naveen, accompanied by agriculture minister Damodar Rout and a few MLAs, reached Marichia village on the outskirts of the city this morning.

Police had a tough time controlling the crowd that gathered at the spot to catch a glimpse of the chief minister. As Naveen stepped out of his car, women welcomed him with ‘huluhuli’ (auspicious ululation).

Before proceeding to push the bullock-driven plough, Naveen with his cabinet colleague Damodar Rout sat down for a short puja. Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani, who never misses a chance to be photographed with the chief minister, sat between the two.

Some women offered Naveen and the accompanying guests sequined beige turbans but he politely refused to put it on.

“No, no, thank you. It’s alright,” he said, as he squatted on a velvet floor mat. Others followed suit.

After the puja got over, Naveen walked towards a ploughed field where farmers who had been waiting for him with their caparisoned bullocks greeted him. As he pushed the plough in a symbolic gesture, the bullocks broke off the yoke and ran free. Naveen broke into peals of laughter and waved at the amused crowd.

Addressing the villagers, which included a large number of farmers from Marichia and other nearby hamlets, Naveen recounted the measures his government had taken for the welfare of farmers.

“With growth in population, it has become necessary to address the issue of food security. My government has initiated a number of steps for the farm community. We are trying to popularise farm mechanisation for agricultural development and provide more agricultural land to the farmers,” he said.

Many people got up on their chairs to catch a better view of the popular leader who also announced plans of setting up 10 agro-polytechnics in the 10 agro-climatic zones in the state.

Agriculture minister Rout talked about initiating rain-fed area development programme with an investment of Rs 20 crore in the areas that experience deficient rains.

In the hilly areas, Rs 2.5 lakh would be allotted for boring wells.

“Steps would be taken to organise the farmers’ community so that an integrated agriculture development programme can be taken up in an area of 25 acres at a stretch. The land of various farmers will come under a chaka (wheel) and incentives would be given to them,” he said.