BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly on Saturday adopted a unanimous resolution recommending to the State Government to urge the Centre to increase the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to `2,930 per quintal.
Agriculture Minister Pradip Maharathy said a House Committee comprising members from all political parties will be set up under the chairmanship of Speaker Niranjan Pujari to take up the matter with the Centre. The committee will meet the Prime Minister and take up the issue in the interest of the farmers, he added.
The resolution moved by the Minister said the Government has been repeatedly demanding a higher MSP for paddy from the Centre to ensure adequate and fair returns for the farmers. But the Centre has fixed the MSP at `1,470 per quintal for the current kharif marketing season which is much less than the input cost, he said.
The Minister said the Government has written three letters to the Centre to hike the MSP on paddy to `2,500 per quintal. The resolution moved by the State Government wanted the MSP on paddy to be raised to `2,500 per quintal. However, the resolution moved by the Opposition Congress and BJP members wanted MSP to be `2,800 per quintal.
Government Chief Whip Ananta Das moved an amendment for raising the MSP to `2,930 per quintal of paddy in the resolution moved by the State Government. Das said the MSP for paddy should be `2,930 per quintal as the farmers have to spend `2,344 to produce one quintal of paddy.
The Opposition also amended the resolution submitted by it. Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra said the MSP should be `3,516 per quintal as Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a public meeting at Bargarh had promised to give one-and-half-times more to farmers on their expenditure to produce food grains.
The cost of production of a quintal of paddy is `2,344 per quintal. “Therefore, I have demanded that the MSP should be fixed at `3,716 per quintal,” he said. Stating that there should be a united fight in the interest of the farmers, Mishra said a delegation of MLAs should meet the Prime Minister to remind him of the promise.
The Opposition’s MSP was not accepted on the grounds that it would not be accepted by the Centre. Earlier, participating in the discussion, BJP member Rabinarayan Naik criticised the State Government for not fighting for the farmers who sustained loss.
Members cutting across partylines including Chiranjib Biswal, Taraprasad Bahinipati (both Cong), Amar Prasad Satpathy, Bed Prakash Agrawal and Ranendra Prasad Swain (all BJD) supported the resolution.