Farmer’s Suicide Is Deeply Disturbing: Naveen; Demands Adequate Compensation to Farmers in a Time-Bound Manner

Bhubaneswar: Leader of Opposition (LoP) Naveen Patnaik on Thursday expressed his concerns over the farmers’ suicide in the state and wrote to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi demanding for restoring confidence to the farmers and provide them adequate compensation in a time-bound manner.

Naveen wrote the letter after visiting the districts of Ganjam, Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara where he met farmers who have suffered huge losses due to unseasonal rains in December.

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. The farmers narrated their woes with a heavy heart. This kind of situation has not happened in the recent past. They stated that they were not aware about 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, Naveen said.

“The most disturbing and unfortunate part of the disaster is the suicide of farmers in different parts of the State. During my visit to Jagatsinghpur district I had gone to the house of a young farmer, Krutibas Swain of Balikuda Block, who allegedly committed suicide on 30th December due to crop loss. It is indeed deeply disturbing”, the LoP mentioned in his letter.

Stating that the farmers of Odisha and their families have faced a huge calamity and their confidence is shattered, Naveen urged the Government to work hard and provide timely and adequate compensation so as to boost the confidence of farmers.

Naveen also reiterated his demand for special category state status for Odisha.

“Odisha is one state in the country that faces frequent natural calamities because of its geographical location. Our people bear the brunt of natural disasters almost every year. This puts additional stress on resources of the state. This is the reason why BJD has been demanding and will continue to demand special category status for Odisha. Today, if Odisha was a special category state, our farmers’ families would have benefitted immensely with additional support and their broken confidence would have been restored in a timely manner”, Naveen said.