DECLARE BALANGIR DIST DROUGHT-HIT: BALGOPAL Friday, 06 October 2017 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

DECLARE BALANGIR DIST DROUGHT-HIT: BALGOPAL

Friday, 06 October 2017 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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This year, Balangir district is facing another worst drought in recent years, thanks to inadequate rainfall coupled with the apathy of the administration and lack of political will. “We demand that the entire Balangir district be declared as drought-affected,” said former Balangir MP Balgopal Mishra on Thursday.

Mishra told this correspondent that the district Collectorate would be gheraoed on October 7 pressing for fulfilments of a 12-point charter of demands in this regard.

The demands include declaration of Balangir and other districts of Odisha, which have received deficit rainfalls, as drought-hit, waiving of all farm loans; free supply of seeds to farmers for Rabi  cultivation, payment of crop insurance money to farmers by January 1, 2018, ensuring the minimum support price for paddy per quintal as adopted in a resolution in the State Assembly, ensuring irrigation to at least 20 per cent of land of Balangir district, waiving of electricity bills for farmers on the pattern of the Punjab and Haryana Governments’ decisions and a contingency plan to ensure availability of water in summer season in the district and ensuring uninterrupted supply of electricity to farmers covered under the Jalnidhi-1 and Jalnidhi-2 schemes.