Kolkata, March 13 (SocialNews.XYZ) The last day of the West Bengal Assembly's extended Budget session on Monday witnessed protests by BJP legislators over the plight of potato farmers in the state.
The BJP legislators, led by the Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, walked out of the house and staged protests within the assembly premises carrying posters and potatoes.
"The potato farmers in the state are being forced to go for the distress sale of potatoes and in the process, they are suffering huge losses. We raised the matter on the floor of the house on Monday. But we did not get a satisfactory reply.
"The state government should pay the minimum support price for potatoes that it has announced. The state government should take the responsibility of replaying the short-term farm loan received by the potato farmers on this count. The farmers should not be denied the proper price for their products," Adhikari told media persons while leading the protests.
However, rubbishing the claims of the BJP legislators on this count, state Agriculture Marketing and Panchayat Affairs & Rural Development minister Pradip Majumdar said that the opposition had been resorting to an unnecessary drama.
"Not a single potato farmer in the state has faced any crisis on this count. Even last year they could sell their products at Rs 15,000 per kilogram," he said.
State Agriculture Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said that the plight of the potato farmers, not just in West Bengal but throughout the country, is because of the Union government's decision to enforce a hike in the price of fertiliers.
"But the state government is always with the potato farmers. The state government has decided to purchase 10 lakh metric tonnes of potato from the farmers. There has not been a single report of suicide by a potato farmer. The opposition MLAs are resorting to drama with potatoes purchased from the open market," he said.
For the last few days several farming belts in West Bengal have witnessed protests by potato farmers claiming distress sale of their products. The farmers have claimed the price offered by the state government for their products is not enough to cover the expenses borne on production.
Source: IANS
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