BARGARH: Hundreds of farmers under the banner of Jay Kishan Andolan staged demonstration in front of the district collectorate here on Tuesday demanding input subsidy for crop loss due to hailstorm in the last rabi season.
The agitating farmers first took out a rally from Gandhi Chowk to the collectorate in Bargarh town before staging protest. They later handed over a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to Bargarh deputy collector Pradip Nanda.
Advisor of the outfit Ramesh Mahapatra said the hailstorm damaged crops in April and May this year just before harvesting. Though the administration assessed the crop loss, farmers are yet to get input subsidy.
He further said crops over 17,000 hectare of farmland were damaged due to the inclement weather condition during the last rabi season in different parts of Bargarh, Attabira, Bheden and Barpali blocks. The affected farmers should get at least `22 crore as input subsidy.
As per the relief code of both the State and Central Governments, farmers should get input subsidy in the same season in which they incur loss. Though the district disaster management monitoring committee sent a report to the State Government about the crop loss in June this year, the latter is sitting on the issue on pretext of Covid crisis, Mahapatra alleged.
“We had drawn the attention of the district administration on our demand several times in the past but to no avail. Finding no other option, we were forced to resort to agitation. If the Government does not provide input subsidy by October 30, farmers will intensify the protest,” he added.