BJP poser to BJD on paddy purchase

BHUBANESWAR: With no end to farmers’ protest over delay in paddy procurement and the 72 hour-deadline given by the party to the State government to streamline the system over, the BJP on Monday said its next course of action will be announced soon.

Launching a diatribe against the BJD government over gross irregularities at all mandis (paddy purchase centres), BJP state president Samir Mohanty said farmers have been left in the lurch. “The farmers are asking who is buying paddy, the government or millers? Why the government has left them at the mercy of rice millers who are ruling the roost at the mandis?” Mohanty asked.

Alleging a nexus between the government and the rice millers, Mohanty said a deliberate attempt is being made to harass the farmers to sell their stock to millers’ agents below the minimum support price (MSP). “The ultimatum given by the BJP to the government on January 22 to streamline paddy procurement within 72 hour is over. The farmers are losing their patience with no firm assurance from the government to buy their paddy. We will decide our next course of action within a day or two,” Mohanty cautioned.

Posing five questions to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the state BJP president dared him to give the exact number of beneficiaries under KALIA, the financial assistance scheme for households engaged in agriculture activities, and the number of instalments transferred.

With the BJD government attacking the Centre for not releasing the arrear and advance food subsidy bills of the State amounting to `6,039 crore and fund scarcity affecting paddy procurement, Mohanty said the ruling party did not hesitate to utilise money from the Odisha Contingency Fund to overcome the financial crisis to meet cost of KALIA scheme.

“Will the government take the same route to meet the fund requirement for paddy procurement?,” he asked.The Chief Minister must explain the people why the number of beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana has come down from 38 lakh farmers who received the first instalment to nine lakh during the disbursement of 7th instalment, he demanded.

The CM in his fifth term is duty bound to explain to the people why his government failed to create a minimum irrigation potential of 35 per cent in each block, Mohanty stated.