Don’t Let Odisha Govt Sit On Funds Released By Centre For Farmers: Tomar

Bargarh: “The entire fund under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana has already been released by the central government, now it’s time to put pressure on the Odisha government so that it doesn’t sit on the funds meant for farmers,” Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said while addressing a public meeting at the bypoll-bound Padampur constituency on Sunday.

He is in the state along with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to campaign for BJP candidate Pradip Purohit.

Notably, BJP and the BJD have been vying to win over the farmers, whose issues have firmly taken the centre stage in the upcoming Padampur by-election.

Tomar said that the Centre extends financial assistance of Rs 6000 for each farmer under the scheme, which provides a protection ring for losses incurred by them. “The farmers here are facing the problem because the BJD government is in power in the state. By voting for Purohit, the electorate will clearly indicate the end of the road of the BJD and the arrival of BJP in the state,” he said.

Amid the political slugfest between the BJD and BJP over farmer issues, the Union Minister had earlier asked the Odisha government to immediately disburse the crop loss compensation to the insured farmers. He also held the state responsible for the delay in settling cop cover claims.

This came a day after Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha announced a Rs 200 crore package for drought-hit farmers, who according to the state government had not yet received their crop insurance dues from the Centre despite continuous follow-up and pursuance by the state government.

According to the chief minister’s office (CMO), 33 per cent crop loss was reported from 2,63,560 hectare of land in 64 blocks and 15 urban local bodies of 12 districts in Odisha due to drought.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had also sought an inquiry into the implementation of the scheme in the state, alleging that the “low payment” of insured sums was due to faulty crop-cutting experiments (CCE) data provided by state government officials and manipulation of CCE yield data by the insurance company.