With barely a week to go for the results of the simultaneous elections to the lok Sabha and the State Assembly, the State Cabinet on Thursday recommended Governor SC Jamir to dissolve the present 14th State legislative Assembly on the day the new Assembly would be constituted.
This decision, which is a formality to comply with the constitutional provision, was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet held here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, said Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra.
The term of the present Assembly is to be completed on June 7 next and the result of the elections will be declared on May 16. The State Cabinet also allowed two cooperative bodies –the Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation (MARKFED) and the Aska Co-operative sugar factory, to raise Rs 50 crore loan from the Odisha State Cooperative Bank as working capital to meet their immediate needs. The State Government would stand as a guarantor against the bank loan for the two cooperative bodies, said the Chief Secretary after the meeting.
The Cabinet took decisions on four agendas only. Briefing newsmen, Chief Secretary Mohapatra said that post facto approval was given to the in-principle decision taken by the Chief Minister earlier to stand guarantee against the Rs 30 crore bank loan from the Odisha State Cooperative Bank in favour of the MARKFED to procure ground nuts and sunflower from the farmers to avoid distress sale by ensuring the Minimum Support Price. Central Government agency NAFED would procure groundnut and sunflower during the current procurement season through the MARKFED. The Government came to the aid of the MARKFED to stand guarantee against the loan as the net worth of the State cooperative body was in the negative. The loan amount would be treated as working capital for the MARKFED.
With an objective to restructure the capital fund of the Aska Cooperative sugar factory to make it a profitable venture, the Cabinet also decided to stand guarantee against Rs 20 crore loan from the Odisha State Cooperative Bank. The loan amount would help the sugar factory procure sugar cane from the farmers at MSP for processing and crushing during the current year. last year also, the State Government had allowed the sugar factory to raise Rs 20 crore bank loan to procure sugar cane from the farmers, Mohapatra said.