Bargarh: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Sunday disbursed additional input assistance to the farmers for the paddy procured from them. Farmers received additional input assistance of Rs 800 per quintal in their bank accounts.
Disbursing the assistance at an event held at Sohela in Bargarh district, the Chief Minister said the significant step was taken keeping the promises made to people in mind and serving the interest of farmers. As promised, the government is providing input assistance of Rs 800 over and above the MSP of Rs 2300, thus making it to Rs 3100 per quintal of paddy, he said.
The state government paid additional input assistance of Rs 66 crore to more than 16,000 farmers through DBT on Sunday.
“Today will be a historic day for Odisha. For farmers, this will be written in golden letters as the government has reached out to them to provide them an accurate price for their paddy,” the Chief Minister said while addressing the gathering on the occasion.
Coming down heavily on the previous BJD government, the CM accused the Naveen Patnaik regime of having betrayed the farmers after making false promise of giving them Rs 100 extra as bonus per quintal of paddy.
Dubbing the previous BJD regime as ‘anti-farmer’, Majhi said it cheated the farming community, while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took quick steps to fulfil the promise of providing input assistance to farmers soon after taking charge, he said.
Asserting that the BJP government is committed to the welfare and empowerment of farmers, the Chief Minister said the government procures paddy from farmers during the kharif season by adopting a transparent procedure and the money is paid directly to their bank accounts within 48 hours.
Tokens are being issued to the registered farmers before the procurement of paddy and basic facilities are being provided to the farmers in every mandi.
As the role of middlemen has been eliminated, nodal officers have been appointed in each mandi to keep a close watch on the paddy procurement process. In case of any complaint, farmers can directly call 1967 helpline.
Similarly, a task force has been formed in the border districts to ensure that vehicles carrying paddy from outside the state do not enter Odisha’s territorial areas.
Thousands of farmers participated in the mega event held by the Department of Food Supply and Consumer Welfare at Sohela.
Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Energy Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari, Minister of Food Supply and Consumer Welfare, Science and Technology Krushna Chandra Patra, Minister of Cooperatives, Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts Pradeep Bal Samanta attended the event at Sohela.
Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Women and Child Development, Mission Shakti Pravati Parida was present at the programme in Puri, while The Minister for Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water, Rural Development, Rabi Narayan Naik graced the event in Sambalpur.
