A central team comprising S.B. Tiwari, Under Secretary (Skills), Ministry of Rural Development, R. Alagesan, Director (Monitoring), Ministry of Water Resources and accompanied by Dakshinamurthy, Director of Agriculture and Collector M. Ravikumar inspected drought-hit fields at various locations in the district on Tuesday and assessed damages caused to crops in the wake of monsoon failure.
Initially, the team took stock of the damage to blackgram on a field at Jegaveerapandiapuram in Ottapidaram Block. R. Radhakrishnan, a farmer, who had cultivated blackgram on nine acres at Jegaveerapandiapuram, informed the team that he suffered loss as crops did not raise owing to lack of rainfall. Mostly, farmers in the Ottapidaram Block were dependent on rainfed cultivation of crops. In 2015, yield from an acre about five to six quintals of crop following good rainfall, but it dwindled to just ten kilograms last year. Despite incurring an expenditure of about Rs.12,000 to Rs.15,000 per acre, he said he could not even earn enough to meet the expenditure. Hence, he sought the team to recommend to the government for providing compensation of Rs.15,000 per acre.
R. Ragunathan, another farmer and Ottapidaram Union Secretary of Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, pressed the need for providing compensation to farmers for crop damage, as well as provision of insurance benefits at the earliest to ensure their survival.
Subsequently, the team moved to Eppodhum Vendran and inspected the tank, which remained dry. Among the farmers present, P. Muthusamy said the former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had allocated funds to desilt the tank at Eppodhum Vendran, but owing to official apathy no such work was taken up so far.
During the rains in 2015, large amount of surplus water from this tank was let waste thanks to poor maintennance. The team, which sought details of the total area of the tank and its silt deposits, asked the officials to accord priority to desilt it.
The Director of Agriculture said while talking to reporters at Eppodhum Vendran that four teams comprising 10 members were involved in assessing drought-hit areas. After assessment, the teams would compile the report and forward it to the government, he said.
At Mela Eral, Krishnamurthy, a farmer said green gram and maize were totally affected due to drought and pleaded for compensation. Ponnusamy, another farmer, said he had no money to repay the loans he had obtained from cooperative society due to crop loss. Since there was no other source of income to repay the loans he sought more time for repayment.
After inspecting Sinthalakarai, Ariyanayagipuram and Surangudi, the team assured the farmers of all help to extend adequate compensation. Joint Director of Agriculture P. Vanniarajan and Assistant Directors of various blocks also accompanied the team.
