Odisha Assembly Adjourned Till 4 PM Amid Uproar Over Farmers’ Issues

Bhubaneswar: Amid uproar by both opposition BJP and ruling BJD over farmers’ issues, proceedings in the Odisha Assembly were stalled and adjourned twice on the second day of the winter session on Friday.

As soon as the House assembled for the day, members of both the ruling BJD and opposition parties stormed the well creating obstruction in the proceedings over issues relating to farmers.

Unable to conduct the business due to pandemonium, Speaker Bikram kesahri Arukha initially adjourned the House for 30 minutes. When the House reassembled, similar scenes were seen as members created ruckus over the issue. As chaos prevailed, the Speaker adjourned the House till 4 pm.

After the House was adjourned, ruling BJD members staged a dharna near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue  on the assembly premises.  They blamed the BJP-led centre over crop insurance, delay in fixation of minimum support price for paddy, shortage of fertilisers and alleged discrepancy in the lifting of rice quota by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

Similar demosntration was held outside the House by BJP members who alleged delay in release of input subsidy, mandi mismanagement and faulty policy of the BJD government relating t o crop insurance for farmers.

Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi of BJP lashed out at the BJP government in the state and blamed it for alleged irregularities in crop insurance delay in payment of input subsidy.

Holding banners and posters, the protesting BJP members demanded that input subsidy be provided to all farmers who have lost crops due to drought in the State.

The Congress legislators, on their part, slammed both the state and the centre for the plight of the farmers. They accused the state government of delaying input subsidy and hit out at the centre for the delay in the settlement of crop insurance claims.