Many farmer organisations and trade unions under the banner of the Odisha Bhumi Adhikar Aandolan would hold a massive dharna in front the State Assembly here on July 18 to press for fulfillment of various demands, informed Aandolan convenor Narendra Mohanty at a Press conference on Thursday.
Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leader lambodar Nayak presided over the meeting.
Alleging that the State Government has adopted anti-people and anti-farmer policies, Mohanty said farmers and workers have decided to take to the streets to protect their legitimate rights.
The demands include provision of pension of Rs 5,000 to each small farmer aged over 60 years, proper execution of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and fixation of paddy MSP taking cost of production plus 50 per cent cost of production as per Swaminathan Committee recommendation.
He too informed that a memorandum would be submitted to the Governor following the dharna.
Among others, Abhiram Behera of the Odisha Krusak Sabha, Gopal Agarwal of the Agranni Krusak Sangathan, Suresh Panigrahi of the Basti Basinda Mahasangha, Sankar Sahu of the Akhila Bharat Krantikari Krusaka Sabha, Narendra Mohanty of the INSAF, Nityananda Parida of the Odisha Khet Majdoor Union, Radhakant Sethi of the Akhila Bharat Janamancha, Srikant Mohanty of the Chasi Mulia Sangha, Pradeep Sahu and Sricharan Behera of the CACD, Chambur Soren of the Odisha Adivasi Adhikar Manch, Bijay Behera of the Samajwadi Krusak Sabha, Ramesh Jena of the CITU and researcher Sandeep Patnaik were present.