Bhubaneswar: Amid growing hue and cry over farmers ending their lives, a panel of the state Assembly will visit Bargarh district May 8 to probe cases of alleged farmer suicides reported in the area.
According to sources, the House committee of the state Assembly will visit Bargarh for four days. After the Opposition forcefully raised the farmer suicide issue during the last Assembly session, which had led to repeated adjournments, a House panel headed by member Pramila Mallick was formed March 31 to look into such cases.
Jogesh Singh, Basant Panda, Samir Ranjan Das and Jacob Pradhan are among the 12 lawmakers who are members of this House panel.
The suicide of farmer Khainu Bagarti had kicked up a storm as Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra of the Congress, as also some BJP leaders, advocated for a House committee probe into farmer suicides, alleging that administrative inquiries had submitted conflicting findings.
He had said that the administrative inquiries by the District Collector and the SP were not accepted as they came up with different findings.
After its formation, Speaker Niranjan Pujari had asked the committee to do a detailed investigation into the matter and submit its report in the House in the coming Assembly session.
“We have been asked to find out the reason why farmers were committing suicide. We will also look into the problems they face in growing crops, among other issues,” said BJD member and member of the committee Samir Ranjan Das.
House panel on paddy MSP meets today
A House panel formed to pursue the matter of enhancing Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy with the Centre will convene its first meeting Wednesday morning on the Assembly premises, sources said.
The committee was formed March 31 along with the formation of the panel to look into alleged farmer suicide cases in the state.
The Assembly had in its last session passed a resolution seeking hike in the MSP of paddy from the existing `1,470 to `2,930.
The House panel, headed by Speaker Niranjan Pujari and comprising four ministers, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra and 11 MLAs from all parties, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pursue the matter in near future. During Wednesday’s meeting, the panel will decide its future course of action, sources said.
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