Pest infestation and diseases have affected the crops, complained the farmers in Madurai district at the farmers’ grievance redressal meeting held at the Collectorate on Friday. They sought compensation for the damage to the crops.

At the meeting presided over by Collector M.S. Sangeetha, the farmers said that they had suffered due to pest infestation and diseases affecting their crops. They urged the authorities concerned to look into their plight.

Most of the farmers said that they opposed the move of allowing the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) as the authority to procure paddy in the State. They urged the authorities to ensure that the direct purchase centres (DPC) functioned in an efficient manner.

Pest infestation and diseases have affected the crops, complained the farmers in Madurai district at the farmers’ grievance redressal meeting held at the Collectorate on Friday. They sought compensation for the damage to the crops.

At the meeting presided over by Collector M.S. Sangeetha, the farmers said that they had suffered due to pest infestation and diseases affecting their crops. They urged the authorities concerned to look into their plight.

Most of the farmers said that they opposed the move of allowing the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) as the authority to procure paddy in the State. They urged the authorities to ensure that the direct purchase centres (DPC) functioned in an efficient manner.

During the previous farmers’ grievance redressal meeting held last month, the farmers had complained about the irregularities of the functioning of the DPCs in the district and urged the authorities to monitor the functioning and take action against the irregularities.

The farmers stressed the need for the survey of the ayacut areas in the district in order to ascertain the extent of irrigation areas. They said that the survey was needed in the wake of urbanisation and development.

The farmers also urged the authorities to distribute ‘kalonji’ seeds which can be used as green manure that helps in improving soil fertility. The authorities were directed to get a taluk-wise data in order to ascertain the requirement of the farmers.

Some of the other complaints raised by the farmers at the meeting included theft of wires and other equipment from farmlands. They said that they had lodged police complaints. They also complained of water theft through motors.

A major complaint raised at the meeting was with regard to the condition of the buses that were plying in various routes in the district. The farmers said that the buses, particularly those plying to the rural areas, were not in a good condition. They said that the authorities should ensure that they provided buses that were in a good condition. The Collector told the farmers that the government was buying new buses and the old buses would be phased out eventually after the arrival of the new buses.

Earlier, a group of farmers led by farmer leader M.P. Raman protested in front of the Collectorate condemning the Central government for the arrest of farmer leaders in Punjab after the talks with a Central team. The talks were held to discuss the demands of the farmers.

Source - https://www.thehindu.com