Bengal government forced farmers to sell paddy at lower rate: BJP

Kolkata, Aug 23 (IANS) The BJP Kisan Morcha, the farmers wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Wednesday accused the West Bengal government of compelling farmers in the state to sell paddy at a lower rate than the MSP set by the central government.

"The central government had fixed the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy at Rs 1,640 per quintal but because of the inefficiency of the Bengal government the farmers in the state were forced to sell paddy at a price of Rs 1,000 per quintal," Morcha national President Birendra Singh Mast said at a press conference here.

"In most of the BJP-run states, the farmers are getting more than the MSP through issuance of bonus, but the Bengal government is not playing their part in the Centre's initiative and forcing the farmers to sell the paddy at far lesser price, thereby pushing them further into misery," he alleged.

He claimed that leaders of the state's ruling Trinamool Congress and the party backed middlemen in the state are eating up the additional Rs 640 per quintal of paddy that is supposed to be given to the farmers.

Stating that the Bengal government is not treating the farmers well, Mast said the BJP Kisan Morcha would observe 'Farmer Agitation Day' on September 20 in Kolkata where he would be present.

Giving the example of the Uttar Pradesh government under Yogi Adityanath which has allocated Rs 67,000 crore for the development of farmers and farming in the state, the Morcha President said the Bengal government has failed to bring such initiatives itself or support the Centre's development agendas.

Terming agriculture as the backbone of the nation's growth, he said the BJP-led central government is the first government to have assigned 42 per cent of its total budget to the agricultural sector through various development schemes.

"The Prime Minister and his government is working towards the promise of doubling the income of all the farmers in the nation by 2022," he said.

Talking about the massive loss of crops in Bengal during the recent flood, Mast said unlike Bihar, the Bengal government has not notified the Centre about its total estimation of losses to get the necessary aid from the centre.

"Bihar has informed the central government about the total estimated loss and the Prime Minister will go to Bihar to visit the flood-affected areas. But the Bengal government has not properly notified the centre about how much loss of crops the farmers have suffered during the floods," he said.

"Being the president of the party's farmers wing I will let the Centre know about the loss of the farmers here. But the initiative should be taken by the state government itself," he added.