The State BJP unit on Friday flayed the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre for inadequate hike in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy and Dal fixing it at Rs 1,310 and Rs 4,300 respectively.
Rejecting the Center’s decision, BJP State unit president KV Singh Deo demanded a relook into it by an upward revision in the MSP of paddy by fixing it at a reasonable amount of Rs 2,100 per quintal.
Addressing a Press conference here, Singh Deo dubbed the decision of the Center as anti-farmer and a cruel joke on the peasantry. Theincrease is less than 5 per cent of the declared price, when inflation is more than 10 per cent, he lamented.
He said the revised MSP would not help the farmers get any profit and make the already distressed farmers more harassed. “loss on farming will force farmers to commit suicide,” he apprehended.
The decision would bring a setback on the farm activity and put the national food security in peril, the BJP president said and demanded Rs 500 bonus per quintal on procurement and minimum 10 per cent increase in other cereals. Singh Deo also criticized the anti-farmer policies of the BJD Government for not providing bonus on per quintal paddy during procurement despite the sustained demand so as to encourage the farmers to produce more and get financial support.
It may be recalled that the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a hike of Rs 60 and Rs 450 in the MSP of paddy and Dal for the current Kharif marketing season on Thursday.
Sing Deo also slammed the Center for deciding to double the price of natural gas to be effective from April 1, 2014. While the UPA Government is squeezing the profit margin of the farmers, it is not averse to providing bonanza to corporates like Reliance Industries limited by doubling the prices of the domestically produced natural gas, he charged.
The sharp increase in the prices of natural gas would impact power tariff across the country and particularly hurt farmers as the price of fertilizers are bound to go up. The upward revision of prices of the CNG would also affect the transport fare, he said.
Referring to the colossal damages due to the two flash floods since second week in the southern and western Odisha districts, Singh Deo demanded that the State Government should immediately amend the Relief Code to enable the affected people get compensation. In the existing Relief Code, there is no provision of any kind of relief to the affected people / farmers out of the calamity fund, he said.
Former Revenue Minister and senior BJP leader Manmohan Samal alleged that during his tenure, he had finalized a draft to amend the ReliefCode and submitted it before Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2008.
But the file is still pending for the Chief Minister’s approval for last several years, he lamented. Singh Deo also demanded the Government to undertake permanent flood control measure in western Odisha by taming the Hati river.