BARGARH: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday staged a massive farmers’ convention and protest in Bargarh, drawing thousands of cultivators from across the region.
Led by Opposition deputy leader Prasanna Acharya, several senior legislators, BJD leaders and workers along with thousands of farmers marched from Ganesh Ram Bhawan through Thana chowk and Kacheri before submitting a memorandum addressed to the President of India through the district collector.
The regional party raised demands including simplification and extension of ongoing paddy registration process, immediate input subsidy for crop losses from untimely rains, inclusion of sharecroppers and landless agricultural labourers under CM Kisan Yojana and increase in minimum support price (MSP) based on Swaminathan Commission recommendations.
The party also sought an end to exploitation in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), middlemen interference in paddy procurement and measures to ensure adequate availability of seeds and fertilisers.
In its memorandum, it criticised the paddy procurement registration process that asks cultivators to submit family details, Aadhaar-linked e-KYC and consent forms during peak season. Terming PMFBY as ‘most failed’, it accused the government of helping companies while denying farmers’ timely compensation.
Farmers are being forced into distress sale at Rs 1,200-Rs 1,400 per quintal despite promised MSP of Rs 3,100 with paddy bags rotting in mandis, the party said. It accused the state government of failing to disburse input subsidies after unseasonal rain and hailstorm damage while excluding sharecroppers and landless labourers from the CM Kisan Yojana after scrapping KALIA.