Bhubaneswar: The House Committee of the Odisha State Assembly will take up the issue of the hike in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy with the President Ram Nath Kovind very soon.
The Committee took the decision at a meeting attended by all political parties here on Friday.
Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, BJD leader Sanjay Dasburma said the Committee will seek an appointment with the President from the Rashtrapati Bhawan to discuss the issue. “The Committee to be led by the Speaker Pradip Amat, will meet the President and apprise him of the plight of the farmers and submit a memorandum to fix the paddy MSP at Rs 2930 per quintal,” he added.
Stating that since the Prime Minister is not willing to spare some time for a meeting with the Committee on this issue which is grossly unfortunate, he said the Committee has decided to apprise the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of its demand for a revision of paddy MSP.
“The Committee had earlier informed the PMO when it sought an appointment with the Prime Minister on this matter. But there has been no acknowledgement from the PMO till date,” rued the BJD leader.
Referring to the absence of the two senior BJP leaders—KV Singhdeo, leader of the BJP Legislature Party and Bibhuti Harichandan at the meeting, Dasburma said the absence of these two leaders has made it clear that the BJP is not keen about the socio-economic development of the farmers’ community.