BJD to raise farmers’ issue in Parliament

Bhubaneswar: The Opposition BJD on Tuesday said it would raise the “plight of Odisha’s farmers and deteriorating law and order in the State” in the upcoming budget session of Parliament. The BJD’s national spokesperson and MP Sasmit Patra stated this after attending an all-party meeting held in Delhi ahead of the budget session.

Patra said, “As directed by BJD president Naveen Patnaik, I raised the issues in the all-party meeting today. We informed the members that the BJD would raise farmers’ plight and law and order issues in Parliament.” Besides, the BJD would also raise the matters relating to the demand for special status to Odisha, non-revision of coal royalty, unemployment, irregularities in recruitment processes, crimes against women, and incidents of attack on members of the minority community, Dalits and tribals, Patra said.

The BJD’s decision to raise the issues regarding farmers’ plight and law and order in Parliament aligns with the party’s scheduled fortnight-long state-wide agitation from February 2 to 14 on these matters, the MP said. “The issues will be raised both in Parliament and also in every nook and corner of the State at the same time,” Patra said. He alleged that farmers were suffering due to lack of proper government policies.

“Farmers did not get seeds and fertilisers during the Kharif season, and later faced difficulties in the procurement of paddy due to irregularities in the process,” Patra claimed. Calling Odisha’s paddy procurement process a “complete disaster”, the BJD leader said that procurement has remained far lower than the State’s ambitious target of 73 lakh metric tonnes.