BJP Kisan Morcha national vice-president Maheswar Sahoo met the distressed groundnut farmers of Mandapal village in Kamakhyanagar and visited their farm land recently.
Former MlA and OBC Morcha State president Krushna Chandra Patra, Kisan Morcha State vice president Rama Chandra Patra and BJP leader Er Debashisha Hota accompanied Sahoo.
Sahoo hit out at the Naveen Patnaik Government for shedding crocodile’s tear without concern for the plight of the farmers who are reeling under crop loss.
He threatened to start agitation if the distressed groundnut farmers of Mandapal are not compensated soon.
Patra said CM Patnaik is blaming the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for any problem in Odisha without any rhyme and reason.
Now, he should answer, why the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Bima Yojana was not implemented properly in Odisha. For this, the poor farmers are getting no support at the hour of crisis, he added.
The Morcha State vice president alleged that the crop yield was falling drastically due to poor quality seed distributed among the farmers by the Government.
Hota charged Minister Prafulla Mallick who is also the local MlA of Kamakhyanagar of ignoring the poor people who have voted for him in huge margin.
Notably, over 100 farmers of the village had sowed groundnut seeds given by the officials on around 400 acres by taking hand loans and credits from different banks. But as the crop failed, they are now in a fix.
They approached the officials, including the district Collector, for relief, but in vain. Consequently, many of the farmers in the area set the groundnut farm on fire out of frustration.
Village president Dharanidhar Brahma said, “Each year we used to harvest10 to 15 quintals of groundnut from an acre, but this year the harvest is poor.
We’re sure that the seed provided by the State Government for sowing were of poor quality.” Brahma threatened to commit suicide if the Government did not compensate the affected farmers suitably.