New Delhi: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Chief and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday led a delegation of party MPs, MLAs and farmers to President Ramnath Kovind and sought his intervention to increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy at Rs 2930 per quintal to safeguard the interest of farmers and bring relief to the farming sector.
In a four-page memorandum submitted to the President, Naveen urged him to intervene in this “most sensitive” matter by issuing appropriate instructions to the Central Government to have a relook into the entire approach of the Commission on Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) with regard to the recommendations of the MSP and to take “immediate” steps for declaration of the MSP rate at Rs 2930 per quintal.
Drawing the attention of the President to the unanimous resolution passed by the Odisha Assembly to fix MSP at Rs 2390 per quintal, the BJD supremo said the proposal of the Odisha government was made keeping in view that it would add to the efforts of doubling farmers income which is a priority for state and central government. But the MSP has been fixed at Rs 1750 per quintal for the current kharif marketing season without giving any consideration to the request made by our government, he regretted.
As the MSP is not commensurate with the rising costs of inouts like deeds, fertilizers, manure, nutrient, micro-nutrient, irrigation charges and hiring charges for farm machine, the farmers of our state have been totally deprived of getting a reasonable price for their produce, he said.
“BJP in its manifesto of 2014 had promised to increase the MSP by 150 per cent suggested by the Swaminathan committee by the BJP led government failed to implement the same in 4 years and 10 months,” Naveen said, attacking the BJP Government on the issue.
Paddy is a major crop of Odisha cultivated over 40 lakh hectors, which is 47 per cent of the gross cropped area. And farmers have to bear the brunt as Odisha is prone to frequent floods and cyclones, the Chief Minister said.
Party leaders who accompanied the CM included president of Biju Krushak Janata Dal (BKJD) Prasanna Acharya, secretary general of BKJD Pratap Jena, MP Bhatruhari Mahatab, Tathagat Satpathy, Rabindra Jena, N Bhaskar Rao, Pramila Mallick, Debiprasad Mishra, Sanjay DasBurma, Arun Sahoo. Farmers Snigdha Patel and Ramani Ranjan Pradhan also were part of the delegation.
Earlier in the day, BJD held a Biju Krushak Adhikar Samavesh at the Talkatora Indoor stadium. Addressing the gathring, Naveen said they will continue its fight for the socio-economic development of farmers of Odisha.
