Farmers, who attended the agriculturalists’ grievance meet held at the Collectorate here on Thursday, staged a protest against delay in disbursal of crop insurance benefits due for 2016-17. They walked up to the podium and sat there, demanding the intervention of Collector N. Venkatesh in this regard. Officials from the Department of Agriculture tried to convince them, saying efforts were on to extend the benefits soon, but the farmers did not relent. When an official from the insurance company handling crop insurance tried to make some point, noisy scenes were witnessed in the hall for a few minutes. The Collector asked the farmers to maintain silence. Since they did not heed his words, the Collector went out of the meeting hall and returned after sometime and chaired the meeting. The insurance company official said the process was on for extending insurance benefits for black gram, green gram, chilli and maize crops ahead of Pongal and other crops later. K.P. Perumal, district secretary, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, affiliated to the CPI (M), said procurement price of black gram was ₹ 8,000-₹10,000 a few months ago, but now it had come down to ₹3,000-₹4,200. The minimum price ceiling should be fixed for the crop and traders should not be allowed to buy below the ceiling, he stressed. He also sought steps to prevent release of excess water from dams into sea. Meanwhile, some farmers demanded compensation for black gram and green gram crops which suffered pest attack. S. Nallaiah, district president, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, affiliated to the CPI, submitted a petition to the Collector demanding compensation for crops attacked by yellow disease in Eral, Kulathuvaipatti, Pudur and the surrounding areas. The Collector said action would be taken to provide compensation for the farmers. Krishnamurthi, a farmer, alleged irregularities in procurement of milk by Aavin. He said Ettayapuram Milk Producers’ Cooperative Society suffered a loss of ₹4 lakh in 2015 and demanded action against those responsible. Source - http://www.thehindu.com