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Bhubaneswar: In the wake of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi still not granting an appointment to discuss Odisha Assembly’s resolution on paddy MSP, the House Committee on paddy MSP has decided to take up the issue with President Ram Nath Kovind and urge him to press the Centre to concede the state’s demand.
A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the panel held here under the chairmanship of Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat in the Assembly, Friday.
Speaking to the media after the meet, BJD legislator Sanjay Das Burma said, “It is unfortunate that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) didn’t give time to meet the committee. Now, the committee has decided to seek an appointment with the President and submit a memorandum to him demanding that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) be hiked to `2,930 per quintal as decided by the Assembly earlier.” It was also decided in the meeting to inform Prime Minister about the decision of the state Assembly on paddy MSP, he added.
Meanwhile, two BJP legislators KV Singhdeo and Bibhuti Bhushan Harichand, who are members of the panel, did not turn up for the meeting. Ruling BJD and opposition Congress have criticised the BJP on this issue.
Das Burma said that this shows that the BJP has no interest on the issue and it is not concerned about the development of the farmers’ community in the state.
Opposition chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati said, “The BJP came to know that the then UPA government had increased the paddy MSP in 2011-12, which is more than what the Centre announced recently. As they now stand exposed, they did not attend the meet today.”
Commenting on the issue, state BJP vice-president Sameer Mohanty said, “Let the BJD government provide `3,000 MSP per quintal of paddy to farmers. We are not opposing the move. The state can give the additional amount as bonus.” As per the absence of two MLAs is concern, Mohnaty said, “I am not aware about the reason behind the absence of two MLAs.”
Earlier, Singhdeo had made it clear that his party will not be a part of the committee that will meet the President.
The BJP Legislature Party leader had stated that the party will not support any proposal against the Prime Minister. Earlier, a unanimous resolution was passed to demand a revision of MSP of common grade paddy to `2,930 per quintal. As per government reports, the production cost of paddy is `2,344 per quintal. It may be recalled here that the Centre had July 4 increased the MSP for paddy by `200 per quintal.