Dama embarrasses, Congress pokes government

BHUBANESWAR: Former agriculture minister and BJD dissident Damodar Rout put the State Government in an embarrassing situation in the Assembly on Tuesday. He alleged that NAFED, which supplied substandard seeds to the farmers, was paid money by Government officials despite his order against it. This triggered noisy scenes in the House during question hour with Congress MLAs storming into the well demanding a statement from the Government assuring that farmers, who had purchased the seeds, would be paid compensation. NAFED had supplied seeds of black gram and moong. The seeds germinated, but did not bear any fruit, Rout said. The former agriculture minister said the department officials disbursed money to the organisation the day after he quit in May, 2011. The company had supplied 3,500 quintals of pulse seeds at the rate of `7,400 per quintal.  An inquiry concluded that the seeds were fake and  failed to produce fruits, Rout said, adding that as agriculture minister, he had stopped payment and ordered criminal proceedings against it. However, a day after his departure from the ministry,the company concerned was paid by Government officials. Describing the Government as anti-farmer, the Congress members rushed to the well demanding a reply. They demanded a House Committee to probe the allegations. “The guilty officials should be punished and farmers be given compensation. We wanted that the Government should give an assurance in the House about this,” Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh said. The behaviour of the Government has exposed the fact, it does not have any sympathy for the farmers, Singh charged. Farmers are never in the agenda of this Government, he said.  During the afternoon session also, Congress members rushed to the well and staged a walkout. Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy assured the House that he would examine the matter. The issue, however, exposed divisions in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP). While some members of the Congress were in the well shouting slogans, party colleague Santosh Singh Saluja asked the next question on the number of houses provided by the Government to BPL families under the ‘Mo Kudia’ scheme.