Opposition BJP and Congress on Monday attacked the State Government in the Assembly over irregularities in paddy procurement and mandi mismanagement.

Participating in his BJP-sponsored adjournment motion, Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi said though the income of farmers has increased by 59% nationally, it witnessed a mere 3% in Odisha.

“If we look at the national average from 2012-13 to 2018-19, the income of farmers has increased by 59% from Rs 6,426 to Rs 10,208. But with a mere 3% increase, the income has gone up to Rs 5,112 from Rs 4,976 in Odisha,” said Majhi.

Alleging that the State Government is not sensitive towards the problems of farmers, Majhi said a farmer, Dharanidhar Majhi, died at a mandi in Boudh, but the Government suppressed the matter by saying that he died of heart attack.

From 2014 to 2016, as many as 48 farmers died by suicide in Odisha. And the Government says that there is not even a single case of farmer suicide since 2017, which is untrue, alleged Majhi.

Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said the Centre is not giving the Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the farmers. And the State Government also did not keep its promise of giving a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal.

“Adding to the faremrs’ woes, paddy is not being procured properly in the mandis,” said Bahinipati.

Replying to the motion, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said the State Government has taken all necessary steps to make the paddy procurement system efficient and farmer-friendly.

He said the Government welcomes every suggestion from members of the House to take the system to the highest level of transparency.

Due to the measures taken by the Government, Odisha is now a rice-surplus State.

In the 2022-23 paddy procurement season, around 16.99 lakh farmers were registered for selling their crops. This was around 8% more than the previous year’s data, which was around 15.74 lakh, Nayak stated.

Till February 26, a total of 62,11,419 MT of paddy have been procured from around 13,94,591 farmers by 3,107 cooperative societies. This year’s procurement is around 18% more than that of 2021-22 Kharif season, which stood at 57,22,304 MT from 12,92,714 farmers, said Nayak.

At the rate of the MSP set by the Government of India which is Rs 2,040 per quintal, a total of Rs 12,015.28 crore has been paid to the farmers and the amount has been directly credited to their bank accounts in online mode, he stated.