A massive congregation of farmers was witnessed at Bhawanipatna on Tuesday.
Under the aegis of Krushak Cell of Congress, the farmers led by Congress MP from Kalahandi Bhakta Charan Das took out a rally from Autonomous Government College to Ghoda Ghat Chhack, public meeting venue, over various issues dogging agriculture.
Addressing the gathering, Das said the State lacks a proper agriculture policy and farmers are deprived of taking benefits of the Central Government schemes.
He said the farmers’ agitation would continue till the State Government declared ` 300 bonus above the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy. “Although neighbouring states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh are providing bonus to farmers over the MSP during paddy procurement as declared by the Centre, the Odisha Government refuses to grant similar provision for the farmers here,” he said, adding that farmers here have been the victims of both drought, erratic monsoon and pest attack.
The Congress MP said: “Farmers in the district are hard hit due to pest attack in September and October. However, the government has not given any compensation for the loss.”
Similarly farmers who had paid premium in the central cooperative bank to insure the paddy crops grown last year are yet to get insurance amount, he pointed out.
He further alleged that this being the time for cotton procurement, Kalahandi administration does not seem to be ready for it.