The district administration has recommended to the government to declare the district drought-hit as the farmers have suffered heavy crop loss following fourth successive northeast monsoon failure, Collector C. Samayamoorthy has said.
Agriculturists, during the farmers’ grievance day meeting held at the Collectorate on Thursday, appealed to the Collector to declare the district drought-hit.
Communist Party of India’s S. Kasamuthu said the farmers were suffering crop loss since 2009 due to erratic monsoon and insufficient rainfall. Hence, the Collector should send to the State Government a proposal to declare the district ‘drought-hit’ and take steps for giving sufficient relief to the farmers.
Mr. Samayamoorthy replied that he had understood their plight in the wake of four successive monsoon failures and had already recommended to the government to declare the district drought-hit.
When the farmers wanted the officials of the Department of Agriculture to instruct the fertilizer dealers to put the selling price list of chemical fertilizers in their shops, Joint Director of Agriculture K. Soundararajan said an order in this connection has already been given to the dealers. “If the fertilizer dealers still refuse to follow the instructions, the farmers can register their complaints with the officials concerned either through telephone or in person.
To facilitate the farmers to contact the officials, we’ve already provided the mobile phone numbers of the Agriculture Officers across the district,” Mr. Soundaraajan said.
As the farmers charged that funds allocated under Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) has been misappropriated, Mr. Samayamoorthy asked his Personal Assistant (Agriculture) Balasubramanian to conduct a comprehensive enquiry into the allegation and submit his findings.
The Collector also ordered the heads of all departments to attend the farmers’ grievance day meet without fail from next meeting onwards instead of sending their subordinates. Since the district has received Rs. 1.58 crore for purchasing agriculture equipment under the farm mechanization programme, Mr. Samayamoorthy handed over a power tiller to T. Arumugam of Kaattaampuli, a Dalit farmer, which carries a grant of Rs. 85,200.