**Bhubaneswar: ** As opposition BJP has raised objection to the village committee for taking decision for finding out the actual cultivator affected by the pest attack, Odisha Revenue & Disaster Management Minister Maheswar Mohanty on Friday made it clear that the village committee is competent enough to look into it.
In his media reactions, the Minister said, “This assistance is being given for crop loss. Hence, those who are the actual farmers and they have been affected, they are only entitled to it. If the original owner of the land is the cultivator and has suffered loss, will obviously get the compensation. If the land owner has given it to the sharecropper, the sharecropper is only entitled to it.”
“Arrangement has been made at the grassroots level to identify the real cultivator. In case of any complaints, the Village Committee is there to look into and sort out. In every Panchayat, the Committee will be chaired by the concerned Sarpanch. They will decide on the real cultivator. There will be no problem,” he asserted.
On the contrary, senior BJP leader and former Revenue Minister of Odisha Biswa Bhusan Harichandan objected, “Village Committee has no authority of law. The Village Committee formed by the State Government has no legal sanction. If the land owner objects to the decision taken by the Village Committee, State Government can’t challenge.”
“Why the State Government is not enacting a law? Why are they dilly-dallying on it for the last three years? Let there be an Ordinance on it and implement soon,” the legal luminary questioned and also demanded.