Vote ditey mon karey na. Aamader ki hobey vote diye. Keu chashi der dekhe na (We don’t feel like voting. What purpose will it serveIJ No one thinks about the farmers)!” says Bimal Mondal, a farmer from Baliara in Raiganj.
His views are shared by a large majority of villagers who blame the power that be, for rising prices of fertilizers. The chemical fertiliser that cost Rs 12 or 13 per kg two years ago, costs Rs 26-27 now, making it quite difficult for the farmers to till the land.
“If we add the rising labour costs and diesel prices which have gone over Rs 65 then you have nothing to save,” he adds. This is the one reason why the farmers have cut down on paddy cultivation.
“Raiganj produces one of the finest quality of rice called Tulai Panji — which is equivalent to your Basmati or any other expensive variety — would soon fade into oblivion,” informs Iswhar Das, a farmer from Tunidighi.
“Even in 2012 we used to get fertiliser for Rs 720 per kg but now we have to purchase it for Rs 870 per kg. Besides, earlier we would get a kg or so less in every 50 kg bag, now they give five-six kg less and you cannot protest,” adds Ishwar.
Apart from this, the Government’s procurement price has not been revised upwards in decades now. “Whereas we expect a minimum of Rs 14,00 a mund of paddy but we hardly get more than Rs 1100,” says Tarakeshwar Pal of Dulhar village.
Meanwhile, the whole North Dinajpur district is facing a serious crisis in paddy production. It is better to cultivate for your own household and leave the rest of the land fallow instead of incurring losses, says another farmer.
“We are expecting at least 40 per cent drop in paddy cultivation this time as people are switching over to vegetables instead of paddy now. Many are keeping their lands fallow instead of incurring losses,” adds an officer from the district Agriculture Department requesting anonymity.
According to him, while in 2011 more than 51,000 hectares of land was under paddy cultivation the figure has come down to about 31,000 hectares in 2014. Apart from fertilisers and diesel prices and low returns in paddy, the Government’s dilly-dallying on setting up of an AIIMS clone in the district is another electoral issue this time.
When PR Dasmunshi was the Union Minister he had promised an AIIMS-like hospital on 100 acre land for Rs 823 crore. However the project has met a land hurdle following the State Government’s decision not to acquire land.
Says Biraj Haldar, a Congress worker, “Mamata Banerjee has been playing politics with AIIMS. The people are ready to give their lands but she has blocked the project and trying to take it away to Nadia,” he says adding how Dasmunshi started an indefinite fast in favour of AIIMS but withdrew it at the request of the Prime Minister.
The AIIMS issue was given further twist by the Chief Minister who recently said in a rally that such a hospital could come up even in the neighbouring Balurghat district or in Siliguri.