Odisha Assembly adjourned over farmer's issues

Bhubaneswar, Nov 25: The Odisha Assembly was today adjourned till 4pm due to an uproar by both the opposition and the ruling party over the farmer's issues. As soon as the question hour began on Friday, members of both sides stormed the well over the issue. Speaker, Bikram Keshari Arukh adjourned the proceedings first till 11.30 am and then upto 4pm as running the house became difficult. After the adjournment of the proceedings of the house, BJD members staged dharna near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the assembly premises. The ruling party members also took out a rally and reached the Raj Bhawan over the issue. The BJP members, on the other hand, staged demonstration outside the house alleging delay in release of input subsidy, mandi mismanagement and defective policy of the state government relating to crop insurance schemes. The Congress members targeted both the state and centre for the plights of the farmers. They accused the state government for delay of input subsidy and mandi mismanagement while targeting the centre for the delay in the settlement of crop insurance claims. On the other hand, BJD accused the BJP-ruled centre for misappropriation of crop insurance, delay in fixation of minimum support price for paddy, shortage of fertilisers and alleged discrepancy in the lifting of rice quota by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).   After the house was reassembled in the second half, the opposition Congress and BJP created an uproar over the farmers' issue. They went into the well and shouted slogans against the state government. Speaker BK Arukha adjourned the house till 4.30 pm and then till tomorrow as pandemonium prevailed in the house.