Walkout on paddy procurement in Kerala Assembly

CPI-M led LDF opposition members in Kerala today staged a walkout in the House protesting government's "failure" to pay arrears to farmers for paddy procured from them during the current season even as chief minister Oommen Chandy said dues would be clearly by July 16.

Replying to a notice for an adjournment motion on the matter by LDF, Chandy said an amount of Rs 186 crore was pending to be paid to farmers and it would be paid by July 16.

Chandy said there was a record procurement of 535,000 tonnes of paddy from farmers during the current season. In a bid to avoid delay in payment, government was planning to make payment through banks at the time of the procurement itself, he said, adding, talks with banks in this regard was progressing.

Food Minister Anoop Jacob said a proposal to set up a revolving fund to ensure prompt payment to farmers for paddy procured was under the consideration of the government. The fund would have a corpus amount of Rs 350 crore.

Seeking leave for the motion K K Vijayadas (CPI-M) alleged that the government was insensitive to the problems concerning farmers.

Farmers were not paid for their paddy till now even though it had been procured four months back and they were in great difficulty, he said.

In protest against government apathy towards farmers issue, LDF members led by their leader V S Achuthanandan trooped out of the House.