BHUBANESWAR : Leader of Opposition and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Thursday reiterated that the Odisha government should take the plight of the farmers very seriously and provide compensation to them in a timely manner by expeditiously assessing the damage caused by the unseasonal rains.
In a letter to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Naveen said government advisory to farmers on weather updates should also be given in a timely manner.
Stating that the rains have caused extensive damage to both paddy and non-paddy crops during the harvesting period, he said farmers and their families are in severe distress. “I would like to demand that government must work hard and provide timely and adequate compensation to boost their confidence,” he added.
The former chief minister said he visited Ganjam, Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts on December 30 and 31 and met farmers who suffered huge losses due to the untimely rains. Naveen said the farmers narrated their woes to him with a heavy heart.
The leader of the Opposition said that the most disturbing and unfortunate part of the disaster is the suicide of farmers in different parts of the state. Naveen said during his visit to Jagatsinghpur district he had gone to the house of a young farmer, Krutibas Swain of Balikuda block, who allegedly committed suicide on December 30 due to crop loss.
Stating that Odisha faces frequent natural calamities because of its geographical location, the BJD supremo said this was the reason why his party has been demanding special category status for Odisha. “If Odisha was a special category state, our farmers’ families would have benefitted immensely with additional support,” he added.