BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Saturday lashed out at the State government over its claim of doubling farmers income in the State.
Countering the statement made by Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari in the Assembly during discussion on the vote-on-account, State BJP Krushak Morcha president Pradip Purohit said, the monthly income of the farmers in Odisha is considerably low in comparison to other states.
The national average income of farm households has increased from Rs 6,426 in 2012-13 to Rs 10,218 in 2018-19. During the same period the income of Odisha farmers have marginally increased from Rs 4,976 to Rs 5,112 whereas the income of farmers of the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has shot up from Rs 5,989 to Rs 10,480.
The increase in the farmers’ income is almost double in Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Ridiculing the BJD slogan ‘Chasira Bala, Biju Janata Dal’ which loosely means BJD is the strength of farmers, Purohit said the regional party has proved to be their nemesis.
He said the recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has exposed the inefficiency of the BJD government as far as fund utilisation for irrigation projects is concerned.
As per the CAG report, the State government was not able to use around Rs 843 crore of Central funds for the Irrigation sector between 2014 and 2020.
He lambasted the government for its failure to procure paddy from about 2.52 lakh farmers due to abrupt closure of mandis. The government deprived minimum support price to the farmers who will now be forced to sell their stock at a distress price.