Minister for PWD, State Highways and Minor Ports Edappadi K. Palaniswami, accompanied by Nasimuddin, monitoring officer, made assessment of crop loss suffered by the farmers due to severe drought conditions prevailing in the three Assembly constituencies in the district on Thursday. The Minister inspected the fields of the affected farmers in Yercaud, Attur and Gangavalli Assembly constituencies. They visited the villages of Tukkiyampalayam in Valappadi block, Ariyappalayam and Mullaivadi (Bethanayakkanpalayam block), Naduvalur south and Lathuvadi (Gangavalli block) and assessed the extent of loss suffered by the farmers. They made enquiries with the farmers and the farm workers and assured them adequate compensation. Later, addressing a meeting of the officials at the Collectorate, Mr. Palaniswami said that the state government has initiated effective steps for the assessment of crop loss due to the failure of the north-east monsoon by special teams to provide adequate compensation to the affected farmers without any delay. The Minister said that the work of assessing the crop loss got under way in all the 20 panchayat unions in the district on Thursday. Special teams comprising deputy tahsildars, revenue inspectors, village administrative officers, officials of the agriculture and horticulture departments, have been formed to assess the extent of drought and the crop loss. He said that the modalities for adopting proper yardstick for arriving at exact loss has already been explained the members of the teams. The officials should take pictures of the affected crop and forward the same along with their report to their higher officials. Training has already been imparted to the team members in this regard. The team members should ensure that all the affected farmers were covered, so that they could get adequate compensation from the state government. District Collector V. Sampath, MLAs A. Maruthamuthu and R. M. Chinnathambi, and senior officials of various government departments participated in the meeting. Source - http://www.thehindu.com