Bhubaneswar: The BJD on Thursday scoffed at an indefinite satyagraha outside the Odisha Assembly, starting Friday, announced by the BJP over alleged malpractice by state authorities and insurance companies in settling claims of farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
Addressing a presser, Odisha BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said they will take up various concerns of farmers including farm assistance, crop insurance, and supply of fertilisers and a state-wide agitation will be launched if these are not addressed.
Stressing the lack of infrastructural support for farmers, he said: “The Potato Mission failed. So did Onion Mission. But despite that, there is no policy in place to help farmers recover losses. Even today, 90 per cent of fertilisers available in the market are duplicate. Farmers don’t get loans on time. They are at the mercy of middlemen for resources, supply of seeds, and fertilisers. The BJD government doesn’t even have a database of farmers,” Harichandan said.
He further alleged that the farmers were getting Rs 4,000 under the KALIA scheme instead of Rs 10,000 as promised while referring to the 2019 elections.
Responding to these allegations, BJD MP Sasmit Patra said that the BJP should instead hold the dharna before Parliament and urge its party at the Centre to give up its anti-farmer attitude. “The BJP MLAs had unanimously supported the resolution along with all MLAs of BJD and Congress to increase the MSP of paddy to Rs 2930 in Odisha Vidhan Sabha in 2018. They should ask the Centre to implement it,” he said.
He questioned the status of the BJP’s announcement to increase the MSP of farmers by 1.5 times of production cost in its election manifesto and the Swaminathan Commission report, whose recommendations it had promised to implement.
Dubbing it an attempt to mislead people, Sasmit blamed the saffron party for the scarcity of fertilisers and blocking Fasal Bima of Odisha farmers. “The farmers of Odisha have seen through the anti-farmer attitude of the BJP as it is the Centre which takes a decision on fertilisers and insurance claims,” he said.
He also accused the Centre of attempting to stall the KALIA scheme in the state in 2019.
With various farmers’ organisations staging dharnas over non-payment of the insurance claim, ahead of the bypoll to the Assembly constituency on December 5, the BJP and BJD engaged in a war of words while shifting the blame on each other for their predicament.
It began with the BJP nominee for Padampur, Pradip Purohit, deferring nomination filing to express solidarity with the protesting farmers on November 14. Claiming irregularities in the payment of insurance sum to farmers in Odisha under the central scheme, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also sought a probe into the alleged malpractices.
Accusing the BJP of doing politics over the scheme, the BJD had then claimed that the farmers’ insurance money was released by the Centre only after pressure from the farmers and continuous follow-up by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Amid high-decibel politics, the CM on Tuesday announced input assistance for drought-hit areas of Odisha. He said about Rs 200 crore will be spent from the state exchequer to support the distressed farmers.
Also Read: Centre Shifts The Blame On Odisha Govt For Farmers’ Crop Insurance Delay
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday said that the Centre had acted promptly and a complete settlement of claims was expected by this week.
