Tamil Nadu farmers unhappy with relief amount

Thanjavur: Though farmers of the Cauvery delta districts welcomed the declaration of 31 districts in Tamil Nadu as drought hit by state government, they expressed dissatisfaction over the relief amount announced by the Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Tuesday.

Sundara Vimalanathan, secretary, Thanjai District Cauvery Farmers Protection Association, said that  relief of '5,465 per acre for paddy was too meagre. The scale of finance fixed by co-operative  and nationalised banks last year was Rs 25,000 per acre and based on this, farmers had borrowed loans for cultivation of an acre of land. But the relief would not cover even the loan amount.

“If the Tamil Nadu government is not able to increase the relief amount, the central government should step in and give the rest of the amount from the National Disaster Management Fund.

The amount allotted for desilting of tanks and water resources should also be increased. In Telangana, state government has announced a desilting scheme called the Kakatiya Mission to desilt all tanks in five years with Rs 20,000 crore. The Tamil Nadu government can do it in phases but increase the allotment of funds,” Vimalanathan said.

Sami Nadarajan, district secretary, Tamil Nadu Vivsayigal Sangam affiliated to the CPI(M),  also welcomed the declaration of the entire state as drought-hit,  but felt that the relief announced was not adequate. He said that the kin of all
farmers who died either naturally or committed suicide, should be paid solatium.  He also said that relief had not been announced for agriculture labourers.

“The mere extending of working days under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to 150 from 100 days is not sufficient. Relief is needed for farm labourers,” Nadarajan said.

“When farmers have been asking for waiver of co-operative loans and loans borrowed from nationalised banks, mere conversion of short term loans into long term ones in the co-operative sector is not sufficient,” he added.