Thoothukudi
Farmers from Nazareth and its surroundings urged the district administration to ensure them early release of water at the grievance redressal meeting chaired by Collector N. Venkatesh here on Wednesday.
Rajendran, a farmer, said there was no water in the following six tanks— Muthalaimozhi, Thenkaraikulam, Nochikulam, Keela Puthukulam, Vellarikaioorani and Themankulam — and the shortage had affected cultivation on a total 3,323 acres of paddy crop.
Despite demanding water release from the Papanasam and Manimuthar dams, no action had been taken, he said.
The Collector asked the PWD authorities to take action. Meanwhile, several farmers raised the issue of delay in crop insurance disbursal and sought early release of benefits to eligible farmers.
Mr. Venkatesh said for paddy farmers, insurance benefits for ₹ 75 lakh for 2016-17 were sanctioned and being disbursed.
As for maize crop, ₹59.83 crore was sanctioned and ₹37.63 crore had been disbursed so far. For green gram, insurance benefits for ₹ 20.73 crore was sanctioned and money was being credited to bank accounts of farmers.
Insurance benefits for crops such as black gram, cotton, cumbu, cholam, chillies, onion and banana were yet to come, the Collector said.
K.P. Perumal, a farmer from Thoothukudi, said Thoothukudi had already been declared as drought-hit by the State government and there should not be any partial treatment in allocation of crop insurance benefits.
Varadharajan, a farmer, sought extension of time to pay crop insurance premium, for which February 28 was the deadline.
Tamilmani, a farmer from Kurumbur, said nowadays farmers, who suffered crop loss without water, were hard-pressed for money and loans obtained by them from banks could hardly be repaid.
Citing the situation, he said bankers should at least reduce the interest rates for farmers.
