Samba transplantation has been completed on 67,741 hectares so far out of the target of 1,18,140 hectares in Thanjavur district, said N. Subbaiyan, Thanjavur Collector, here on Wednesday.
Mr. Subbaiyan assumed charge as Collector of Thanjavur district on Wednesday. He presided over the monthly farmers’ grievances day meeting. He said he was happy to preside over the farmers’ grievances day meeting as his first assignment after assuming charge as new Collector.
Mr. Subbaiyan said that Kuruvai harvest had been completed on 23,976 hectares out of the covered area of 28,924 hectares. “Farmers have taken an average yield of 6,984 kg an hectare,” he said.
A total of 958 tonnes of samba seeds had been distributed so far at Rs. 5 a kg as subsidy under the National Agriculture Development Scheme and 50 per cent subsidy under seed village scheme.
With respect to fertiliser, there was a stock of 13,526 tonnes of urea, 5,515 tonnes of di-ammonium phosphate, 4,390 tonnes of potash, and 3,570 tonnes of complex fertilizers.
V. Jeevakumar and Veerasenan, farmers, complained that water had not yet reached tail end areas such as Madukkur, Peravurani, and Pattukottai although Mettur dam was opened 80 days ago. They appealed to the District Collector to take steps to see that tail end areas received water. “Although there was rain in Thanjavur district, it was not adequate in Pattukottai, Madukkur, and Peravurani areas,” they said.
The Collector promised to look into the matter. He asked Grand Anicut canal engineers to inspect the areas and find out the problems and rectify them.
The Public Works Department engineers said that water supply was maintained at 3,222 cusecs in Grand Anicut canal and internal turn system was followed for supplying water to branch canals. Every five days, the turn was changed.
Farmers demanded that kuruvai paddy with moisture content up to 20 per cent was purchased at Direct Purchase Centres of the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation as now there was rain when the crop was under harvest. At present, TNCSC was taking paddy with moisture content of up to 17 per cent.
Officials of Thiru Arooran Sugars Ltd, Thirumadankudi, said their factory crushed 4.18 lakh tonnes of sugarcane in 2012-13. A total of 4,882 farmers supplied 3.56 lakh tonnes of sugarcane to the factory. Amount to be disbursed to them — Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) and Factory Wise Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) — total put together was Rs. 80.25 crore. Of this, FRP alone was Rs. 60.63 crore. This had been fully disbursed.
An interest of Rs. 1.44 crore had been disbursed for late payment of this amount. The remaining SMP was Rs. 19.62 crore. Of this, Rs. 9.89 crore had been supplied for the cane supplied till February 28, 2013. Steps were taken to disburse the remaining amount.
Officials of Shree Ambika Sugars Ltd, Kottur, said the factory had crushed 3.63 lakh tonnes of sugarcane in 2012-13. A total of 5,726 farmers supplied 3,63,794 tonnes. Amount to be disbursed for this cane both FRP and SMP was Rs. 81.85 crore. Of this, FRP of Rs. 61.85 crore had been disbursed fully.
An interest of Rs. 1.35 crore had been disbursed as interest for late payment of this amount. SMP to be paid to farmers was Rs. 20 crore. Out of this, Rs. 8.31 crore had been disbursed for the cane supplied till February 22, 2013. Steps had been taken to disburse the rest of the amount.
Collector takes charge
Thrust will be on taking welfare schemes to the people’s doorsteps, Mr. Subbaiyan told presspersons here on Wednesday soon after assuming charge. A doctorate (Ph. D) degree holder from Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Subbaiyan has completed MBA in financial management. Prior to this, he was the Joint Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board.
