BHUBANESWAR: With farmers' issue taking centre stage in the by-election to Padampur Assembly constituency, Leader of Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra on Monday dared Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to keep his election promise by restoring the KALIA assistance of Rs 10,000 to farmer-beneficiaries.
Addressing party workers sitting on an indefinite satyagraha near the Assembly, Mishra said the BJD government has been cheating the farming communities ever since it came to power in 2000. BJD launched the KALIA scheme before the 2019 election with a promise to provide financial assistance of Rs 10,000 to 75 lakh farmers. After winning the election it deceived the farmers by reducing the amount to Rs 4,000.
In its first election manifesto, the BJD promised to provide irrigation facilities to at least 35 per cent of the agricultural land in each block. This remained a promise even after 22 years of governance. Similarly, developing a coal storage facility in each block is still a distant dream. Instead of adding storage facilities, the government has ensured the closure of cold storage operating under cooperative societies.
Recalling the assurance of the chief minister to farmers at a public meeting at Sohela in 2015 that the state government will provide a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal of paddy, Mishra said the former has conveniently forgotten his promise.
Asserting that the voters of Padampur will give a fitting reply in the ensuing by-election, Mishra said his party will raise these issues during the winter session of the Assembly starting December 24. BJP chief whip in the Assembly Mohan Majhi slammed the state government for misleading the people on the farmers' issues by blaming the Centre. BJP leaders from Bhubaneswar and Jatni Assembly constituencies took part in the satyagraha which entered the fourth day on Monday.