Bhubaneswar: Chaos reigned supreme in the Odisha Assembly Wednesday as MLAs of the opposition BJD and Congress demonstrated, alleging mismanagement in paddy procurement.
As soon as the House assembled for the Question Hour, BJD members rushed to the Well and started a demonstration with placards.
Amid the sloganeering, BJD’s Deogarh Romancha Ranjan Biswal, who came to the House dressed as a farmer, poured a bagful of paddy on the reporter’s table.
The situation soon escalated with Congress MLAs joining the BJD members in the demonstration, calling the BJP government in the state ‘anti-farmer’.
Speaker Surama Padhy’s repeated appeal to the agitating members to return to their seats failed to yield any result, following which she adjourned the proceedings till 11.30 am.
When the House reassembled at 11.30 am, similar scenes were witnessed, forcing the speaker to adjourn the proceedings till 4 pm.
Speaking to reporters outside the House, Congress legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam said they have no alternative but to agitate in the Assembly.
“The government is not procuring paddy from farmers, for which they have to undertake distress sales. Though we have drawn the attention of the government to the issue several times, it has no result,” he alleged, noting that Congress MLAs will continue to protest until the problems being faced by farmers are resolved.
BJD member Byomakesh Ray said the party has been raising the issue for a long time, but the government has not taken any corrective measures.
“The government is not taking excess paddy from farmers and has put a cap, limiting procurement to only 150 quintals, when there is no such provision in the Food and Paddy Procurement Policy. If there is a bumper crop, what will farmers do? The government must procure the entire paddy,” he said.
The ruling BJP criticised the opposition MLAs for disrupting the Question Hour.
“The opposition members should not create pandemonium in the House during Question Hour, which is very crucial for the people of the state. The paddy procurement process is underway smoothly across the state,” BJP MLA Babu Singh claimed.
Replying to a written question in the House, Food Supplies Minister KC Patra said surplus paddy is being procured from eligible registered farmers at Rs 3,100 per quintal, which includes MSP and input assistance.
“The procurement system is designed to accept all eligible surplus paddy offered by registered farmers subject to prescribed quality specifications and verification norms, so as to ensure that farmers are able dispose of their marketable surplus without constraint under MSP,” he said.
PTI
