Bhubaneswar, February 18 Chaos prevailed in the Odisha assembly on Wednesday as MLAs from the opposition BJD and Congress staged a protest, alleging mismanagement in paddy procurement.
As soon as the House assembled for the Question Hour, BJD members rushed to the well and began a demonstration with placards.
Amidst the slogans, BJD's Deogarh MLA, Romancha Ranjan Biswal, who came to the House dressed as a farmer, poured a bagful of paddy on the reporter's table.
The situation quickly escalated with Congress MLAs joining the BJD members in the demonstration, calling the BJP government in the state "anti-farmer."
Speaker Surama Padhy's repeated appeals to the protesting members to return to their seats were unsuccessful, following which she adjourned the proceedings until 11:30 am.
When the House reassembled at 11:30 am, similar scenes were witnessed, forcing the speaker to adjourn the proceedings until 4 pm.
Speaking to reporters outside the House, Congress legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam said they had no alternative but to protest in the assembly.
"The government is not procuring paddy from farmers, which forces them to sell at distress prices. Although we have repeatedly drawn the government's attention to this issue, it has not yielded any results," he alleged, adding that Congress MLAs will continue to protest until the problems faced by farmers are resolved.
BJD member Byomakesh Ray said the party has been raising this issue for a long time, but the government has not taken any corrective measures.
"The government is not procuring excess paddy from farmers and has set a limit, restricting procurement to only 150 quintals, when there is no such provision in the Food and Paddy Procurement Policy. If there is a bumper crop, what will farmers do? The government must procure all the paddy," he said.
The ruling BJP criticised the opposition MLAs for disrupting the Question Hour.
"The opposition members should not create chaos in the House during Question Hour, which is very important for the people of the state. The paddy procurement process is proceeding smoothly across the state," BJP MLA Babu Singh claimed.
Replying to a written question in the House, Food Supplies Minister KC Patra said surplus paddy is being procured from eligible registered farmers at Rs 3,100 per quintal, which includes MSP and input assistance.
"The procurement system is designed to accept all eligible surplus paddy offered by registered farmers, subject to prescribed quality specifications and verification norms, so as to ensure that farmers are able to dispose of their marketable surplus without any constraint under MSP," he said.