By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar, November 25, 2022: The Odisha Assembly on Friday could not transact business amid pandemonium with members of both Treasury and Opposition benches raising the farmers’ issues targeting each other.

As the opposition BJP and Congress members, who were in the well of the House even before beginning of the day, started sloganeering against the state government, accusing it of being “anti-farmer”, the ruling BJD MLAs also rushed to the well leading to a face-off. The chaos led to repeated adjournments of the House by Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha.

At a time when the Opposition lambasted the state government over issues such as delay in payment of crop insurance, input subsidy assistance and discrepancies in paddy procurement, the ruling BJD MLAs flayed the BJP-led Centre for not hiking the minimum support price of paddy to Rs 2,930 per quintal.

After staging a sit-in on the Assembly premises, members of the BJD and BJP approached Governor Ganeshi Lal separately to air their grievances and to lodge protests.

Briefing reporters outside Raj Bhavan, senior BJD MLA and former minister Shashi Bhusan Behera said the Centre has been dilly-dallying in taking a stand on state’s unanimous proposal to increase the minimum support price of paddy to Rs 2,930 per quintal.

“Because of the Centre’s inaction, the farmers in Odisha are not able to get their insurance amount under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. Also, the BJP government at the Centre is adopted anti-farmer stand in terms of procuring parboiled rice from Odisha. We have conveyed our grievances to the governor through a memorandum,” said Behera.

The BJP MLAs alleged that the farmers of the state are being deprived in every sector because of the inefficiency of the state government. They said BJD raises farmers’ issues only when elections are around.