Odisha MLAs try to consume the monk on paddy procurement

An Odisha legislator on Friday tried to consume a sanitizer inside the state assembly to protest against the alleged purchase of paddy from farmers in the mandis.

BJP MLA Subhash Panigrahi of Deoghar was barred from drinking the scavenger by state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha and fellow MLAs present in the House.

The incident occurred at a time when Food Supply and Consumer Welfare and Cooperation Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain was about to present a statement in the Assembly regarding the paddy purchase.

“Farmers are going through a crisis. I had consumed a few drops of sanitizer before fellow legislators snatched it from me. It was a desperate effort as there was no solution despite the concerns being expressed in the House, ”Mr. Panigrahi told reporters outside the House.

The MLA said that he found it very difficult to face the farmers who had not been able to sell their paddy for months together in the Primary Agricultural Credit Committee (PACS) in his constituency.

‘Significant growth’

The minister told the assembly that 60.40 lakh tonnes of paddy had been purchased so far in this kharif season as compared to 53.31 lakh tonnes purchased in the last kharif season.

“This year 14.97 lakh farmers have registered for sale of paddy, out of which 11.22 lakh have already sold paddy. Last year it was 9.17 lakh farmers. This shows a significant increase in the number of farmers from whom paddy has been procured, ”said Mr. Swain.

So far, 28 10,828 crores have been transferred to the accounts of farmers in the direction of paddy purchase. Paddy procurement is going on in all western Odisha districts except Bargarh and Sambalpur.

Odisha recorded a bumper crop this year. Thousands of farmers are waiting to sell their produce in PAX, but are left stating that there is no approval for further purchase. As the last date of purchase is 31 March, farmers are becoming more and more uncontrolled.

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