Five paddy purchase centres to be opened in Tiruchi

They have been set up at Lalgudi, Anbil, Thinniyam, Ariyur, and Sembarai

October 01, 2014 12:13 pm | Updated April 18, 2016 09:06 pm IST - TIRUCHI:

A farmer explains his problem at the farmers grievances redress meet at the Collectrate in Tiruchi on Tuesday.PHOTO: A. MURALITHARAN

A farmer explains his problem at the farmers grievances redress meet at the Collectrate in Tiruchi on Tuesday.PHOTO: A. MURALITHARAN

Five direct paddy purchase centres (DPCs) will start functioning in the district from Wednesday, Collector Jayashree Muralidharan said on Tuesday.

Responding to pleas for opening of paddy procurement centres at the farmers grievances meeting here, Ms. Muralidharan said the DPCs would be opened in Lalgudi, Anbil, Thinniyam, Ariyur, and Sembarai.

Ms. Muralidharan instructed the Department of Agri Business to explore the feasibility of introducing auction of tapioca at the regulated market following a request from C. Masilamani, district secretary, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam. She said that auction of onion, cotton, and banana through regulated and integrated market in the district had been largely successful and helped prevent exploitation of farmers by middlemen.

The Collector promised to take up with the government a suggestion put forth by N. Veerasekaran, coordinator, Ayyan Vaical Pasanatharar Sangam, seeking the publication of a draft of the updated computerised land records for public view before being incorporated. Clarifying farmers’ doubts, Ms. Muralidharan said the computerised chitta adangal was updated currently as in some villages they had not been updated for about 10 years. This was done to ensure that there was no discrepancy in the computerised data and the land records in the villages. ‘A’ registers were being computerised now, she said.

S. Mathiazhagan, Joint Director of Agriculture, said that samba paddy transplanting had been completed on about 9,000 hectares in the canal-irrigated delta areas of the district and 340 hectares in the non-delta areas. Although the area under coverage was low in non-delta areas owing to meagre rainfall, samba cultivation in most of these areas normally picked up only towards the end of October, he said.

Earlier, Mr. Veerasekaran urged the government to take steps to ensure that the private sugar mills paid the State Advised Price for sugarcane.

Mr. Masilamani regretted that despite repeated pleas and agitations by farmers seeking compensation for crops damaged by the drought like conditions in the district, no relief has been sanctioned yet.

Ms. Muralidharan said the matter had been taken up with the government and a decision was awaited.

In a representation, P. Viswanthan of Tamizhaga Eri Mattrum Attru Pasana Vivasayigal Sangam urged the district authorities to take steps to dredge all tanks in the district to harvest rainwater. The bunds of the tanks should be strengthened and shutters repaired, he said.

Ayilai Siva Suriyan, district secretary, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, affiliated to the Communist Party of India, and R. Subramanian of Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, complained over inadequate water supply for irrigation in the tail-end areas of the Kattalai High Level Canal. The canal had not been dredged for long, Mr. Siva Suriyan said and urged the district administration to ensure release of adequate water to meet the requirement of tail end farmers.

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