| They are still waiting for compensation for damaged crops due to unseasonal rains |
State yet to finalise guidelines for payment of compensation to sharecroppers
Package announced by the Chief Minister only a ‘deception': Congress MP
Bisika Behera, a sharecropper of Samantarapur village of Ganjam block, trying to retrieve whatever she could from her inundated field near NH 5 in Ganjam district on Saturday. The Central team that visited Orissa to ascertain the loss of paddy crop due to unseasonal rains has observed that considerable loss has been incurred.
BHUBANESWAR: Millions of farmers across the State were still waiting to receive compensation money for the extensive damage of their crop due to unseasonal rain, and Youth Congress activists were admitted to hospital during the day as their condition deteriorated while taking part in a fast-unto-death dharna in the city demanding a better deal for the rain-hit farmers. But hundreds of leaders, Ministers and activists belonging to the ruling Biju Janata Dal, who seemed to be blissfully ignorant of the increasing unrest among the farmers, thronged the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here to greet him on the occasion of New Year on Saturday morning.
Many senior government officials and officials of the State police also made a beeline for the Chief Minister's residence and presented him bouquets of flowers and greeted him. Similar was the scene at the State Secretariat and residence of the Ministers and senior bureaucrats with people, primarily ruling party politicians and businessmen, reaching with bouquets to renew their association with the powers that be. A host of politicians, including the Chief Minister, also visited the Sri Jagannath temple in Puri to seek the blessings of the deities.
Officials in the Revenue and Disaster Management Department of the State government admitted that disbursement of compensation money, as per the Rs. 902 crore special package for farmers announced by the Chief Minister on December 18, had not started in any of the affected districts till date.
Furthermore, the State government had also not finalised the guidelines for payment of compensation for the damage of paddy crop to the sharecroppers.
Meanwhile, president of the State unit of the Youth Congress and Lok Sabha Member Pradeep Majhi, who was also taking part in the fast-unto-death dharna that entered into its third day on Saturday, criticised the BJD government accusing it of turning a blind eye towards the plight of the farmers when farmer suicides were increasing by the day in the wake of the crop loss.
Mr. Majhi, who charged that diverting agricultural land for industries was a priority for the BJD government, said the package announced by the Chief Minister was only a “deception”.
As regards the BJD's criticism of the Congress-led alliance government at the Centre, Mr. Majhi said it had become a practice for the Chief Minister and BJD leaders to blame the Central government without rhyme or reason.
In another development, leaders of different Opposition parties and activists of various civil society organisations staged a dharna near the Raj Bhavan under the banner of All Odisha Coordination Council for Protection of Farmers. A delegation of the activists also submitted a memorandum to Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare urging him to intervene in the matter and ask the Centre and the State government to ensure payment of adequate compensation to the rain-hit farmers at the earliest. They also demanded that all farmers' families should be included in the list of families living below the poverty line.
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