The Opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), staged a walkout during the Question Hour of Chhattisgarh Assembly on Wednesday alleging state government’s carelessness had led to damage of paddy worth crores at the procurement and collection centres across the state. Earlier, BJP MLA Rajneesh Kumar Singh asked if paddy purchased in the previous financial year through the centres was not yet lifted for milling and wanted to know the purchase centres and quantity of paddy, millers given paddy and return of rice by them, if paddy is not lifted then what were the reasons behind etc. In reply, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Amarjeet Bhagat said that there was no stock of paddy, procured in the fiscal 2019-20, at the centres as on December 11, 2020.

 

Custom milling work has been affected due to Covid-19 pandemic, said the Minister. On it, MLA Singh said that paddy at two procurement centres in his constituency has been badly damaged due to absence of proper arrangements. In the meantime, Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik said that he visited Surajpur and found that paddy worth about Rs 50 crore has rotten and the situation in other parts of the state can be gauged. He demanded formation of a three-member Vidhan Sabha Committee for finding out the reasons. The Food Minister said that the BJP government in its 15 years of tenure did not construct shed and develop other facilities and thus previous government is responsible for this.

 

Congress government is constructing shed and other infrastructures, he said. BJP MLA Ajay Chandrakar too raised question in the House on the issue which was opposed by Congress MLA Brihaspat Singh. Other BJP MLAs, including senior BJP MLA Brijmohan Agrawal, said that MLA Brihaspat Singh should not disturb like this when questioned answer session is going on. BJP MLA Sourabh Singh said that paddy worth Rs 8500 has rotten. MLA Agrawal said that Rs 1300 crore damage done due to damage to the paddy. If the government will form a committee for inquiry. Deputy Speaker Manoj Singh Mandavi said that too much time has been given to discuss the issue and skipped to the next question. Dissatisfied with the answer from the food minister, Opposition staged a walkout.