The Opposition is doing negative politics even in the times of corona pandemic, there is a need to adopt a constructive role by the Opposition, said Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperatives Minister, Badal while talking to media persons here on Tuesday. He said that the Due to the visionary thinking of the Minister, Rameshwar Oraon and Chief Minister, Hemant Soren, the Government procured more paddy than the target.
Attacking the opposition parties, Badal said that the opposition is doing the work of pointing fingers at the activities of the Government. “The figures clearly say that when the opposition was in power, they continuously ignored the farmers during that period. If we talk about the BJP-backed Government, then it was reduced to half the target of paddy procurement, whereas at present we have done more paddy procurement work than the target,” he added.
The Minister said that if we look at the figures of 2017-18, 40 lakh quintals of paddy had to be procured, out of which only 21,33,965 quintals of paddy were procured, whereas in 2018 - 19, only 22, 74,044 quintals of paddy were procured in lieu of 40 lakh quintals. “This was only 53 per cent and 56 per cent of the target set by the Government. In 2020-21, the target of paddy procurement was set at 60,85,000 quintals, against which 62,41,722 quintals of paddy have been procured. That is, 102 per cent paddy was procured more than the target. In the year 2020-21, a total of Rs 943.21 crore has to be paid to the farmers, out of which we have paid Rs 570 crore, currently the Food Corporation of India has to pay Rs 172 crore, which they have not paid yet,” he added.
Badal said that the people of Jharkhand have sent 12 opposition MPs to the Lok Sabha, it is their Government in the Center and we would urge that the Central Government should get the dues paid as soon as possible, so that the farmers can breathe a sigh of relief. If this payment is made by the Central Government, then the figures of the State government will reach Rs 742 crores, he added. He said that for the first time in 2020-21, 50 per cent of the minimum support price has been paid to the farmers at the time of procurement of paddy.