BHUBANESWAR:The opposition Congress on Thursday targeted the State Government and the Centre in the Assembly for betraying farmers by not implementing promises made to them resulting in increasing number of suicides.
The issue cropped up during discussion on the admissibility of an adjournment motion notice brought by the Congress members on the plight of farmers and apathy of the State Government and the Centre. “Both the BJD Government in Odisha and the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre have made false promises to get votes,” Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Narasingh Mishra said while participating in the discussion.
Referring to the election manifesto of BJD for 2014 elections, where it had promised to provide irrigation to 10 lakh hectares in next five years, Mishra asked how much irrigation potential has been created. “Though four years have passed since 2014, can the Minister say how much land has been irrigated so far?” Mishra asked.
Calling the BJD Government a ‘habitual liar’, Mishra said the Government in 2006 had promised 35 per cent irrigation in every block of the State. “What is the result in 12 years? Have you achieved the goal?” he questioned.
“Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a statement in the Assembly had said 1,96,000 hectare in Sonepur have been irrigated while the cultivable land in the district is only 1,10,000 hectare. This shows how aware the Government is of facts,” he said.
Hitting out at the Centre, Mishra said though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced to revise minimum support price (MSP) to one-and-half time of the cost of food grain production, nothing has been done in four years. “The Prime Minister could not even find time to meet Odisha Assembly’s House Committee on the MSP on paddy. Though the Assembly passed a unanimous resolution to fix the MSP at Rs 2,930 per quintal, the Centre rejected it. The farmers spend Rs 2,344 to produce a quintal of paddy and get Rs 1,550 per quintal as MSP,” he said.
Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati alleged that farmers are in distress all over the State because of the false promises made by the BJD and BJP. BJP members Basanta Panda and Rabinarayan Naik criticised the BJD for not giving bonus to farmers and not following the Centre’s guideline to protect crops from the pest attack.
Stating that production of food grain has increased because of the Government’s encouragement to farmers, Government chief whip Amar Prasad Satpathy said there was no response from the PMO even after Speaker sought an appointment with the Prime Minister for the house committee on MSP on paddy. Countering the Opposition allegations, Satpathy said farmers’ suicide in Odisha is less.
Making a statement in response, Agriculture Minister Pradip Maharathy termed the allegations by the Opposition as “baseless” and said Odisha has received Krishi Karman Puraskar from the Centre for four consecutive years.
BJD members express concern over health care facilities
Bhubaneswar: The State Government on Thursday came in for criticism from ruling BJD members in the Assembly on Thursday over non-availability of healthcare services in the State through Public-Private Partnership mode. Raising the issue during question hour, Ranendra Pratap Swain (BJD) targeted Health Minister Pratap Jena and alleged that health services remained very poor despite introduction of PPP mode. His party colleague Sanjay Dasburma said there is shortage of doctors in hospitals despite adequate infrastructure facilities and healthcare services are very poor. Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra said though equipment are available in the operation theatre of Balangir MCH, they are not used. Countering the allegations, Jena said steps are being taken to provide CT scan and free health check-up facilities at Angul, Balasore, Balangir, Mayurbhanj, Puri, Keonjhar, Kalahandi, Koraput and Capital hospitals.
‘95 primary schools have no teachers for all classes’
Bhubaneswar: About 95 per cent primary schools do not have a teacher for all classes while 85 per cent do not have a room for every class. This was stated by School and Mass Education Minister Badri Narayan Patro in a written reply to a question from Dilip Ray (BJP). He said out of the 33,398 primary schools, only 1448 have a teacher for all classes while 4032 rooms for every class. However, only 2965 schools have piped water supply while 11,007 have electricity.