A BJP legislator on Friday rocked the legislative assembly when he tried to drink hand sanitiser to protest the state government’s “failure” to procure paddy of thousands of farmers in his area in the western district of Bargarh.
BJP MLA from Deogarh, Subash Chandra Panigrahi who earlier in the morning had threatened to immolate himself over the paddy procurement issues was about to gulp the contents of hand sanitiser bottle when parliamentary affairs minister Bikram Arukha, senior BJD legislator Pramila Mallick and other legislators stopped him.
“We should raise the farmers’ issue in the Assembly. But, such an act in the House is not acceptable,” said BJD MLA Ananta Das.
Panigrahi's shocking display came while state food supplies minister Ranendra Pratap Swain was reading out a statement about the status of paddy procurement in the state in the 2020-21 kharif marketing season. Swain said so far 60.44 lakh tonne of paddy have been procured by the government through several market yards, considerably higher than last year's collection of 53.31 lakh tonne.
"This is an all-time record. We would continue to procure paddy till March 31 and ensure that no genuine farmer is left out," the minister said.
{{/usCountry}}"This is an all-time record. We would continue to procure paddy till March 31 and ensure that no genuine farmer is left out," the minister said.
{{/usCountry}}This season's record procurement came on the back of close to 15 lakh farmers registering as against 12.35 lakh last season.
In the morning, the BJP and Congress members had stalled the Assembly proceedings alleging that the procurement procedure was faulty. Congress leader Narasingha Mishra alleged that paddy procurement in the state was in a state of disarray.
"The state government had earlier assured the Assembly that paddy would be procured from the genuine farmers and criminal action would be taken against the middlemen. Lots of paddy have still not been cleared from the mandis and the minister’s statement on the floor in the previous session was a farce. Why should the Assembly function if the decision taken here is not honoured,” asked Mishra.
Leader of Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik (BJP) said even after the assurance of the minister, paddy is not being procured from the farmers. He alleged that the state government has funds to organise cricket matches at the panchayat level, but it can’t procure paddy from the farmers.
Despite the record paddy procurement this kharif season, farmers across the state have resorted to protests paralysing traffic movements expressing their anger over the paddy procurement system. Over the last few years, paddy procurement has been playing a critical role in the state's rural economy. This year around ₹10,800 crore have been transferred to the accounts of the farmers who sold their paddy at the mandis.
With immediate payment assured for their harvest, farmers and farmer organisations in Odisha want the government to buy all their harvest. On Friday, farmer leader Mahendra Patel of Sundargarh district led a protest of farmers in Talasara area demanding that the government renew the lapsed tokens that would enable the farmers sell their paddy. Similarly, farmers under the banner of Navanirman Krushak Samiti stopped traffic on state highway 65 at Badamba-Narasinghpur area of Cuttack district demanding that the paddy be purchased.