BHUBANESWAR: KISAN Congress, the farmers’ wing of the Congress party, will launch a month-long ‘Mandi Chalo Abhiyan’ (march to mandi campaign) from Wednesday demanding payment of bonus of Rs 600 per quintal to farmers besides minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,930 per quintal of paddy.
Announcing this at a media conference here on Tuesday, the president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattanayak said that farmers from all districts of the state will participate in the campaign to demand fulfilment of their 17-point charter of demands. He said that the campaign will continue for a month till January 13, 2024.
Pattanayak demanded that MSP on paddy should be increased to Rs 2,930 per quintal as per the unanimous resolution passed in the Assembly in this regard. Stating that the state government should ensure payment of MSP to the farmers, the OPCC president said the state government has failed to pay bonuses to farmers despite several assurances in the past.
He said that the bonus should be Rs 600 per quintal given the increase in the cost of production. The OPCC president said the demands include payment of Rs 25,000 to farmers sustaining crop loss due to the untimely rains, waiver of crop loans and special incentives to the farmers.
He said the other demands of the Kisan Congress are the procurement of paddy discoloured due to untimely rain and the installation of CCTV cameras in every procurement centre.