Farmers must be compensated quickly: Naveen

Berhampur: Former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday un-dertook field visits in Ganjam district to take stock of crop damage due to unseasonal rain and urged the State government to provide adequate com-pensation to farmers who are in distress. He interacted with affected farmers in Seragada, Aska, Kabisuryanagar Khallikote and his Assembly segment Hin-jili.

“I have visited five areas of Ganjam district today. The crop damage is severe and farmers are in distress. They must be compensated quickly as was a prac-tice during our tenure,” Patnaik told reporters after the visit.

Describing cultivators as the backbone of the economy, the BJD president claimed that he was informed by hundreds of farmers, including women, that “no government official has so far visited their paddy field to assess crop damage”.

“The farmers told me that they had no advance information about rain or ad-visory. Had farmers received prior information about unseasonal rain, they could have saved their crop,” Patnaik said. The BJD chief assured the farmers that he would fight for their rights.

“The unseasonal rain has broken their (farmers) backbone. Therefore, I strongly demand that the State government immediately provide adequate compensation to them,” the former chief minister said.

During the visit, a farmer appealed to Patnaik to extend assistance and oth-erwise, many people will be forced to migrate for survival.

“We still have much faith in Naveen”, said a farmer as he was trying to reach out to the Hinjilicut MLA despite tight security. “We know that Naveen is now not in power. But he under-stands us better and hope he will fight for us,” said the farmer.

According to the information received from the office of the Leader of Oppo-sition, Patnaik is scheduled to visit paddy fields in Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara on Tuesday as farmers of these districts have also been affected by unseasonal rain.

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said, “Had Pat-naik met farmers when he was the chief minister, he would not have tasted defeat.”

Senior BJD leader and former minister Debi Prasad Mishra claimed that the BJP leaders are “afraid of Patnaik” and now they have started visit-ing agricultural fields to assess crop damage.