BJP eyes to money in on mandi misrule with farmers rally

Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR: As politics over farm points take centre-stage, the BJP has put all its energy to make the ‘Mandi Chalo Abhiyan’ at Sambalpur on Thursday a grand success. All high leaders of the saffron celebration have left for Sambalpur, the political nerve centre of Western Odisha, to attend the farmers’ rally which has been basically organised to counter the anti-Modi offensive by the BJD authorities.

The rally has been timed when paddy procurement operation is on the peak and studies of farmers going through issues in promoting their inventory as a result of mandi mismanagement are pouring in from totally different districts of the area. The BJP is attempting to money in on the farmers’ resentment by channelising their anger in the direction of the federal government.

“Irregularities in paddy procurement is rampant in almost all mandis. Farmers with online tokens are waiting for days to dispose of their stock. Millers are deliberately not lifting paddy on the plea that they have no storage space,” mentioned BJP Krushak Morcha president and former MLA Pradip Purohit.He cited a instance of Dibya Kumar Sahu, a 52 year-old farmer from Mandosil village of Paikmal block of Bargarh district,  who died of coronary heart assault lately whereas ready to promote about 100 quintals of his paddy on the native mandi.

Purohit mentioned round 60,000 luggage of paddy are mendacity close to Mandosil mandi for weeks as registered rice millers aren’t lifting the inventory. Local farmers staged a protest close to the mandi on Wednesday.Even because the State authorities has claimed that paddy procurement is occurring easily and procurement has exceeded by 22 per cent over the corresponding interval final yr, Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik mentioned, “there is not a grain of truth in it.”

The main drawback the farmers are going through is that the variety of mandis shouldn’t be sufficient for the large amount of paddy. In some locations, mandis haven’t been opened whereas in others, the quantity is lower than what was introduced, he said. The BJP will even spotlight different points like non-submission of the beneficiary record to the Centre beneath the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme depriving lakhs of farmers from the advantage of the monetary help programme.

BJP State basic secretary Lekhashree Samantsinghar mentioned round 40,000 celebration staff and farmers from 35 Assembly seats and 5 Parliamentary constituencies in western Odisha will participate within the rally. They will even stage protest and gherao the RDC workplace in Sambalpur.