Prominent problems bedevil this 'eminent' Hinjli constituency for years

Hinjli: In this constituency of CM Naveen Patnaik, betel farmers have a bitter tale to tell. This farmer dominated constituency is saddled with agro problems galore for years, despite none other than the CM representing the constituency since the year 2000.

Farmers in the constituency mainly cultivate betel, sugarcane and vegetables.At the Ralav village, the betel farmers are in a quandary here as when they have a good production they have no market to sell their produce. They were compelled to go for distress sale. And in times of disaster like Titli or Phailin, when they lose their crop there is no government succour forthcoming. What hurts them most is the lack of market triggers the misery of distress sale and non-realisation of cost of production. As a consequence, farmers fail to recover their cost of cultivation. Betel growers demand for re-opening of the Banaras market to realise good returns in betel farming.

Not only betel farmers, vegetable growers in the village also have a distress tale to tell. The grouse of vegetable growers is there are no cold storages in the region, which compel them to go for distress sale of vegetables in times of good harvest. Here too farmers incur huge losses and debt burden.

Significantly, Hinjli had been the fort of Congress till Naveen Patnaik adopted this constituency. Some voters rue on lack of perceivable development in the region. They are sore about the fact that even government schemes fail to reach to the eligible beneficiaries here, despite being the constituency of CM. Many farmers complain that they have not received the benefits of the much – acclaimed State’s flagship scheme KALIA till date. Besides, the problem of migration to outside State for jobs is still the biggest bane for the constituency.

However, many voters are also of the view that the pace of development the constituency has seen in the last 19 –years were never witnessed earlier.

In 2019 elections, BJP has fielded PitambarAcharya and Congress pitted SambhunathPanigrahi to take on CM Naveen Patnaik.