Odisha Minister Flays Centre Over Paddy MSP Hike

Bhubaneswar: Senior BJD leader and Agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy has slammed the Centre for a paltry hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy.

“The Prime Minister and the Union Agriculture minister have betrayed the farmers. The Centre has to explain on what basis it has fixed the production cost of paddy,” Maharathy told mediapersons here on Thursday.

He said though there has been a substantial hike in the MSP of 13 other Kharif crops, the same has not been taken into consideration for paddy.

Maintaining that the Centre has hiked the MSP of 13 other Kharif crops keeping in view the ensuing elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, he said it is grossly unfortunate that the Union Agriculture minister, though hails from a farmer’s family, has failed to figure out the cost of production of paddy.

“The state government will write to the Prime Minister and the Union Agriculture minister in this connection very soon,” Maharathy added.

In his reaction, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb on Wednesday had said that it would have been better had the Centre taken the recommendation of the Swaminathan Committee into consideration and increased the MSP of paddy by another Rs 300 per quintal.

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik said that the MSPs announced by the Modi government are not 1.5 times of even last year’s cost. “This was PM’s last chance to redeem himself after causing 4 yrs of agricultural distress. But Alas! He failed again,” he tweeted.

BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said both the BJD and the Congress are shedding crocodile tears on MSP of paddy.

“The Congress-led UPA government during its tenure from 2004 to 2014 had fixed the MSP of paddy at Rs 1166 per quintal. Can the Congress say when it had raised the MSP to this extent in any year during its tenure?” Dharmendra asked.