The Treasury Bench members on Wednesday forced Deputy Speaker Sanand Marandi to direct their own Government to make a statement in the House over non supply of seeds to farmers for the Rabi crop despite announcement of a package.
The direction came after several ruling BJD members criticized their own Government for not being serious to the farm sector and expressed concern over the failure of the Seed Corporation to provide seeds in time to the farmers to undertake Rabi crop.
Raising the issue during Zero hour, BJD member Pradip Maharathy, who happens to be a former Agriculture Minister, made a scathing attack on the Government for not being serious about solving the problems of the farmers, particularly those affected by Phailin and subsequent floods.
He said the Kharif crop was damaged in most areas following the cyclonic storm Phailin and subsequent floods. The farmers wanted to make up for the loss in the Rabi season, but since they were not getting seeds in time, they have lost all hope of a change in their fate. He also accused the Odisha Civil Supply Corporation (OCSC) under the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department of selling potato seeds stashed in the cold stores at Rs 25 a kg during the tuber crisis.
Though the Corporation is responsible to procure and supply seeds to the farmers in time, it has now become defunct, he said, adding it seemed the Agriculture department had no control over its functioning.
Showing some documents, he said the OCSC had no supply of potato, ground nut and other seeds and hence, it had failed to support the farmers in time. He attributed it to the callousness of the OCSC authorities in procuring quality seeds.
Pointing a finger at the functioning of the Agriculture department, he alleged that though as per the Chief Minister’s Rabi package, fertiliser kits were sent to each block to be distributed among the farmers at a subsidized rate of Rs 60, but the officers were selling the kits for Rs 600 each.
Maharathy demanded the Chair to direct the Agriculture Minister to make a statement within 24 hours. He threatened to sit on a dharana in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Assembly premises, if the Government did not make any statement on the supply of seeds.
Government Chief Whip Pravat Tripathy also criticised the Agriculture department for the mess as far as supply of certified and quality seeds to farmers was concerned. Seeking a statement from the Agriculture Minister, he wanted to know whether the Seeds Corporation was procuring seeds form black listed dealers and even resorted to go slow in procurement to force the farmers purchase seeds from private dealers at a high price.
Senior BJD member Prafulla Ghadhai also said that the Government had no concern for the farmers. The farmers were looking upon the Government to get good quality seeds in time but the corporation was not procuring seeds, he said. Stating that the Deputy Speaker should not take the issue lightly, they urged him to ask the Agriculture Minister to make a statement in the House.
BJD member and former Agriculture Minister Amar Satpathy and Independent member Pratap Sarangi also expressed similar concern over the issue. Satapathy regretted that the Agriculture department had failed
to implement agriculture policy.
Sensing the mood of the members, Deputy Speaker Marandi asked the Agriculture Minister to make a statement on the issue in the House.