Bhubaneswar: Leader of Opposition (LoP) Naveen Patnaik on Thursday wrote to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, seeking adequate compensation to the farmers after a proper inquiry for crop damage due to unseasonal rain.
Patnaik also empahsized on providing weather updates to the farmers in a timely manner.
“…..the government of Odisha must take the plight of our farmers very seriously and order proper inquiry followed by timely compensation. Also, the government advisory to farmers on weather updates should be given in a timely manner henceforth,” Patnaik wrote in his letter.
Patnaik wrote that he visited various areas in Ganjam, Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts on December 30 and 31 and met farmers who have suffered huge losses due to unseasonal rains recently.
“The farmers and their families are in severe distress. The rains have caused extensive damage to both paddy and non-paddy crops during the harvesting period,” he said.
Naveen claimed he was told by the farmers that they were not aware of the intensity of rains as the government advisory was not issued on time. Besides, at many places, the survey of crop damage has not yet been done, he claimed.
“The most disturbing and unfortunate part of the disaster is the suicide of farmers in different parts of the state,” the LoP said.
Stating that the confidence of farmers is shattered after the calamity, Naveen said, “I would like to demand that government must work hard and provide timely and adequate compensation so as to boost the confidence of farmers.”
