Mohan Charan Majhi on Sunday launched the distribution of additional input assistance of ₹800 over and above the MSP of ₹2,300 per quintal of paddy to the farmers of the state.

The state government paid additional input assistance of ₹66 crore to more than 16,000 farmers through DBT on Sunday.

Addressing a gathering at Sohela in Bargarh district, Majhi said, “Today will be a historic day for Odisha. For farmers, this will be written in golden letters as the government has reached out to them to provide them an accurate price for their paddy.”

To give respect to the farmers, the government has started providing additional input assistance of ₹800 over and above the MSP of ₹2,300 per quintal of paddy to the farmers of the state, he said.

“I am very happy with launching this initiative for the farmers,” he said.

The government has selected Sohela to launch the distribution of the additional input subsidy because the area is treated as a hub of farmers, he said.

Former chief minister Naveen Patnaik had given a false promise to provide a ₹100 bonus to the farmers in 2016, Majhi alleged.

“The previous government was exploiting the farmers through middlemen. It had promised to provide a bonus of ₹100 to the paddy farmers but never implemented it. To give a befitting reply to the false promise, I came here today to distribute the input assistance,” he added.

“In its election manifesto, the BJP had promised to procure paddy from farmers at a price of ₹3,100 per quintal. Today, the promise was fulfilled,” the chief minister said.

Majhi said that within one hour of taking oath, he called the first cabinet meeting and took important decisions including distribution of ₹800 per quintal input assistance to paddy farmers.

What the previous government failed to do in its 24 years of rule, the BJP government implemented it within six months, he claimed.

Paddy procurement for the Kharif season started on November 20 and so far, more than 21,500 farmers have sold their paddy to the government, Majhi said.

He said the government procures paddy from farmers during the Kharif season and the minimum support price is paid directly to their bank accounts within 48 hours.