Naveen Govt 'anti-farmer': BJP

Dubbing BJD Government in Odisha as "anti-farmer", senior BJP leader and former state minister Manmohan Samal today said the condition of farmers in the state was fast deteriorating due to official apathy.
"Recently the Government announced that it will not procure rice further from market. It has forced farmers to sell their paddy in an open market and to businessmen of neighbouring states at a much cheaper rate as they have to buy seeds for the Kharif crops," Samal told reporters here.
"But the irony is that with their hard earned money they are buying low grade seeds supplied by the Government," he said.

The Seeds Corporation, which has been assigned the onus of supplying seeds to the farmers, has got only three lakh quintal of seeds, Samal claimed.
Alleging corruption in fertiliser sector, the former minister claimed that "a BJD MLA was found involved in selling of adulterated and fake fertilisers in Western Odisha".
It has been noticed that by bringing up spurious fake materials from neighbouring states like Chhattisgarh, fertiliser packets are made with the label of branded fertilisers and the packets are sold at higher rates, he said.
In the interest of farmers, concrete steps must be taken to make available adequate quantity of fertilisers, he said, adding that fertiliser sale centres may be granted at every Panchayat to facilitate the community to avail of fertiliser from their concerned GP Point.