Krishnagiri farmers demand relief package for Rs100cr loss
Agriculturist have suffered heavy crop losses due to drought
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-27 05:23 GMT
Krishnagiri: The farmers in drought-hit Krishnagiri district have demanded a relief package to bail out agriculturists who have suffered an estimated Rs100 crore of crop loss. K.M.Rama Gounder, secretary for Tamilaga Vivasayikal Sangam, said “the northeast monsoon season played havoc dashing the hope of the farmers.” Vast expanse of groundnut, red gram crops besides mangoes and coconuts cultivated on more than Rs3 lakh hectares have failed leading to a loss of over Rs100 crore for farmers.
Besides, the cattle population is also affected as the cultivation of the fodder crops have also failed. “The crisis has forced farmers to send their cattle to slaughter houses; mango and coconut trees were sold to the fire wood traders.The state should act immediately and compensate the losses faced by the farmers.”TN government should immediately draw up a plan to link local water bodies and the South Pennar river to help farmers during monsoon failure.
“Krishnagiri water bodies and South pennar should be linked to save water from the river being wasted as surplus discharge during good monsoon season” Rama Gounder said.
T.Kodandaramiah, district treasurer for Tamilnadu Vivasayigal sangam also demanded the linking of South Pennar River and ‘Shoolagiri-Chinnar reservoir project (SCRP)’.
“SCRP was constructed at the cost of Rs 551 lakhs in 1984 for the benefit of 871 acres of farm lands in 16 villages. Water from the dam was used for cultivating two crops annually to produce 1711 metric tons of food grains” T.Kodandaramiah, district treasurer for Tamilnadu Vivasayigal sangam told DC.He further said “The food production has declined in recent years as the dam has gone dry because of no rains after 2005. This has forced many farmers to sell their lands and migrate to other states for livelihood”
The plight of farmers will end if Kelavarapalli dam (constructed across south Pennar River) and SCRP are linked, say farmers. They argue that the project is feasible because the left main canal of Kelavarapalli dam is just one km from Durai Lake.