Farmers' suicide issue major point of contention in House

The recent spate of suicides by farmers in the state rocked the Orissa Legislative Assembly today with the speaker being forced to adjourn the house repeatedly.

The proceedings of the assembly was disrupted as the opposition Congress members took up the issue of distressed farmers committing suicide allegedly due to the failure of their crops, debt burden and government neglect and demanded passing of obituary references for the deceased farmers in the house.

Trouble began as soon as the question hour began with the leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh demanding that the deaths of the farmers in various parts of the state be condoled in the house. Speaker Pradeep Amat rejected the demand saying the house had no such precedence, prompting Congress legislators to rush towards the speaker’s podium shouting anti-government slogans. While the speaker wanted the members to raise the matter after the question hour, the opposition members did not allow him to conduct normal business. The speaker initially adjourned the proceedings of the house for one hour from 10.30am to 11.30 am, but had to do so repeatedly as the chaos continued each time the house reassembled. Finally, he adjourned the house at 1 pm till 5 pm.

Both the opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have alleged that at least 30 farmers have died in the past few months due to crop failure and the government’s apathy towards their plight.

Yesterday, on the opening day of the month-long winter session, the opposition members had demanded that the house should include the names of the deceased farmers in the obituary references, which was rejected by the speaker.