The BJP staged a demonstration before the district Collector’s at Chhatrapur on Tuesday demanding early restoration of power supply to the Phailin and flood-affected villages of the area.
A memorandum was submitted to the Government through the district administration stating that the vegetable crops like chilli, cauliflower, brinjal and potato worth lakhs of rupees were completely damaged in the area, but no Government assistance or compensation has yet been paid to the farmers. As power is not yet restored to the villages, people are migrating outside the State as Dadan workers.
The 10-point memorandum alleged that though the district administration has given seven dates for restoration of power supply to the villages, no action has yet been taken on the ground in this regard and people are losing their faith on the Government. The enumeration of loss of crops, horticulture and livestock has not been done properly, and now the claims of the farmers are being deliberately not entertained on the pretext that the enumeration dates are over even though no such prescribed date was actually notified. The memorandum demanded early payment of compensation to the affected farmers at a rate of Rs 30,000 per hectare; payment of assistance for construction of pucca houses; probe of allegation relating to distribution of polythene sheets on partisan lines; payment of compensation to those who lost domestic animals; proper identification of BPl card holders; payment of pension to old persons, widows and disabled persons; stone basement on the Rushikulya riverbank; proper assessment of loss of cashew nut, betel, supari and coconut plants; immediate restoration of lift irrigation points; supply of quality seeds free of cost for Rabi crops; waiving of agricultural loans and sanction of fresh loans.