Bhubaneswar: After a gap of around two years, the state government once again decided to distribute 25,000 mobiles among leading farmers of the state.
Earlier, 18,000 cell phones were distributed among leading farmers.
"We have floated a tender to procure 25,000 more mobiles that will be distributed very soon among farmers," cooperation minister Damodar Rout told the assembly in a written reply.
The objective behind the free mobile distribution scheme, launched in 2013, is to help farmers get market information related to agricultureKeeping in mind the 2014 general and assembly elections, the state government had distributed around 18,000 mobile phones to the farmers. There was, however, no distribution for two years (2014-15 and 2015-16).
The minister, in his reply, said so far the maximum number of mobile phones - 1,364 - have been distributed among the farmers of Sundargarh district, followed by 1,202 mobiles in Balasore district. Only 144 phones have been distributed among the farmers of Gajapati district, the lowest among all districts.
Congress leader Nabakishore Das, however, criticized the state government for trying to gain mileage by launching populist schemes. "Had the state government any intention to facilitate the farmer to get market info by providing mobiles, it would not have stopped the distribution for past two months," Das said.
Source : TOI
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