Bhubaneswar, February 23 The opposition BJD in Odisha said it will organize a massive rally near the assembly on Tuesday to protest alleged mismanagement in paddy procurement and the "poor" law and order situation.
Leader of the Opposition and BJD president Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to address the protest meeting to be held on MG Marg leading to the Assembly building, senior leader Prasanna Acharya said.
The party has been staging demonstrations across Odisha for a fortnight over these issues.
Addressing a press conference here, Acharya alleged that the paddy procurement system in the state has completely collapsed, leaving farmers distressed, while the law and order situation and women's safety have severely deteriorated.
Acharya claimed that from the very first day of this year's procurement drive, irregularities have persisted. Farmer registration, token distribution, procurement at mandis, and issues like arbitrary deductions of grain weight have caused immense hardship to farmers, he said.
"Across blocks and districts, farmers have been forced to take to the streets. However, the state government is unwilling to acknowledge their grievances. Instead, it continues to pat itself on the back, claiming smooth procurement operations, while official data itself proves these claims false," he said.
According to government data, over 19 lakh farmers had registered for procurement this year. Of them, around 1.5 lakh registrations were cancelled by the government citing various reasons.
While the total paddy production in the state this year stands at 19.306 million metric tons, only 6.009 million metric tons have been procured so far, merely 31 per cent of the total production, the party said in a statement.
The BJD also alleged that though the Centre raised the Minimum Support Price (MSP) on paddy by Rs 69 this year, the state government is not providing this benefit.
As per norms, the payment should reach farmers' accounts within 48 hours of procurement, but in reality, payments are delayed by 15 to 20 days, the opposition party said, accusing the BJP government of adopting an "anti-farmer" policy.