Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jul 12:

With 53% of the input subsidy remaining to be disbursed to farmers even after nine months of Odisha being declared drought-affected, the genuineness of Naveen Patnaik government’s concern for farmers of the state has been exposed.

Pic Courtesy: www.livemint.com Pic Courtesy: www.livemint.com

The state government’s own report says that only 47% of the input subsidy has been disbursed to affected farmers till date.

According to the state government’s own statistics on disbursal of input subsidy to drought affected farmers, a mere two percent in Nayagarh district while only five percent in Cuttack and Jajpur districts.

Similarly, in Gajapati, Khordha and Deogarh districts the disbursement is 20 percent, 24 percent, and 25 percent respectively.

However, the state government has directed all district collectors to complete disbursal of input subsidy to all the affected farmers in the state by 31st of this month.

“Today at a meeting at the state secretariat in consonance with the chief secretary’s directions it was decided to provide government assistance by the end of this month. In some districts, disbursal of input subsidy has been dismal. Strict instructions have been given to the collectors of these districts for its disbursal. The Relief Commissioner’s office has already released about Rs 926 crore to these districts. Only 47 percent of the input subsidy has been disbursed. Very soon the assistance amount will be released to all blocks in the districts,” informed Special Relief Commissioner Pradipta Mohapatra to reporters after the meeting at the state secretariat here today.

Notably, earlier, the state government and the Centre had engaged in a war of words over drought assistance to the state. Ruling party BJD had even taken to the streets over the issue. While Odisha had sought an assistance of Rs 2344.99 crore, the Centre had sanctioned an assistance of Rs 815 crore. Till date, the state exchequer has received Rs 600 crore from the Centre.

While major opposition parties- Congress and BJP have slammed the state government on this account, the ruling BJD has said the delay in disbursal of input subsidy was caused due to problems in identifying genuine cultivators.

“This government is only capable of making statements. While it’s going to complete a year since the state was hit with the drought it’s yet to disburse assistance provided by the Centre to farmers. This has proved that this government is not making efforts for a better performance and on solving problems of the people of the state,” said senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra commenting on the issue.

“Everyone is aware of what situation it leads to if the government is left in the hand of bureaucrats. The Centre has disbursed input subsidy since long. The state government instead of utilizing it is engaged in alibis and it’s not appropriate to indulge in sloganeering against Central neglect. This government is incompetent and it proves the efficiency of the government,” commented Congress MLA Prafulla Majhi.

“The government has issued directions for disbursal of input subsidy to genuine cultivators. In some places out of the 233 blocks in 27 districts, there have been problems in identifying genuine cultivators. The government has directed collectors to resolve these problems and complete disbursal of input subsidy by the end of this month,” said BJD spokesperson Samir Dash in reply to the allegations of the Opposition.

It may be recalled here that last year crops were badly affected due to drought in 233 blocks spread over in 27 districts of the state.