Bhubaneswar: The second day of the Odisha Assembly’s budget session Wednesday was washed out, as chaos reigned supreme with MLAs of the opposition BJD and Congress demonstrated, alleging mismanagement in paddy procurement.
Amid the ruckus, Speaker Surama Padhy adjourned the House twice before doing the same till Thursday.
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 first 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. Finally, Padhy adjourned the House for the day till 10.30 am Thursday as members of both opposition parties refused to stop the agitation on the floor of the House.
The House could transact for nearly five minutes in the entire day due to the din over the alleged mismanagement in the paddy procurement across the state.
A day before the commencement of the session, Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik had announced that the voice of farmers would “roar” in the Assembly as the government had ignored their pleas to procure their paddy at state-run mandis across Odisha.
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, there was no result,” he alleged, noting that Congress MLAs will continue to protest until the problems being faced by farmers are resolved.
Opposition Chief Whip Pramila Mallik of BJD said, “Our party has drawn the attention of the government several times at different platforms. Our leader has written to the Chief Minister, and BJD leaders staged protests in all districts, highlighting the plights of farmers. But, the government keep on exploiting the farmers.”
Asked how to bring back normalcy in the House, Mallik said they are ready to withdraw the agitation if the chief minister announces in the Assembly that the government will procure the entire surplus paddy from farmers and give them a suitable price.
“There is no coherence in the government. When the CM says something, the deputy chief minister calls the farmers fake and the supply minister makes a different statement. Let them respect farmers,” she said.
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 and Consumer Welfare 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.