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Bhubaneswar: For the third consecutive day, the proceedings of Odisha Assembly session witnessed pandemonium as the members of opposition BJP and Congress created ruckus over several issues pertaining to the farmers and mandi mismanagement on Saturday.
The House was initially adjourned till 11:30 am and later till 4 pm following ruckus created by the Opposition parties on the issue today.
After Speaker SN Patro’s ruling, Civil Supplies and Cooperation Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain informed the House that the last date for procurement of paddy in the State was fixed for March 31.
Swain further said that 21% more paddy has been procured so far this year against the total procurement of last year. Already 55.03 lakh MT paddy has been procured against the procurement of 45.61 lakh MT last year, he added.
However, BJP members were not satisfied with the Minister’s reply and insisted for a discussion through a motion in the House.
“We had demanded for suspension of all business in the House and discussion on the farmers’ issue. The State government is not ready for discussion on the crucial issue,” said Opposition Chief Whip, Mohan Majhi.
Majhi said that farmers are facing issues due to non-lifting of paddy from mandis across the State.
The Congress legislators, on the other hand, also opposed the Minister’s reply and following the ruckus, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings till 4 pm today.
“Farmers constitute nearly 80 % of the population here. We had brought in adjournment motion but the Speaker is yet to accept it. We are opposing the Minister’s statement as we were told that there is no scope for any discussion after the Minister’s reply,” said Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati.
(Edited By Pradeep Singh)
