Bhubaneswar, July 1 -- Nearly 35,000 farmers in Odisha are still awaiting procurement of around 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of rabi paddy, the opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) alleged on Tuesday, accusing the BJP government of failing to honour its election promises to farmers and demanding that the procurement period be extended by at least 15 days.
The BJD leaders addressing a press conference at the party headquarter here claimed that despite promising to procure every grain of paddy, raise the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and provide enhanced input subsidies before the elections, the BJP government had failed to fulfil its commitments.
Although the government has extended the procurement deadline by three days beyond June 30, the party said...