BHUBANESWAR: The BJD on Sunday announced to launch a series of statewide protests from February 2 to 17 to highlight the farmer crisis and deteriorating law-and-order situation in Odisha.
The protests will culminate at a massive public rally in Bhubaneswar on February 24. Addressing a press conference at Shankha Bhawan here, senior BJD leaders, including deputy leader of Opposition Prasanna Acharya, senior vice-president Debi Mishra, vice-president Sanjay Das Burma and former minister Arun Sahu, came down heavily on the BJP government for its failure in addressing problems of farmers and rising crime. They alleged that there is severe shortages of fertilisers, widespread black marketing and significant delays in paddy procurement.
Acharya said only about five lakh of 19.66 lakh registered farmers have managed to sell their paddy so far. Stating that procurement has remained substantially short of the state’s ambitious target of 73 lakh metric tonne, he said, around 25 lakh metric tonne paddy have been procured so far representing just 34 per cent of the target.
He warned that delays in kharif procurement would severely impact farmers’ ability to finance rabi (dalua) paddy cultivation, which has already begun in irrigated areas.