Farmers who participated in the monthly agriculturists grievances day meeting held here on Friday, urged the district administration to take steps immediately to tackle the drinking water crisis in rural areas.
They wanted a comprehensive plan to be implemented to save the livestock population in the district.
Initiating a discussion, a number of farmers referred to the acute drinking water crisis prevailing in a majority of villages in the district and said that they were unable to provide water to the livestock.
G.S. Dhanapathy, district chairman of the Farmers Forum of India, said all major villages were hit hard by drinking water crisis in the district.
He suggested that a special meeting be convened to sort out the issue in consultation with the officials of the department responsible for supply of water in rural areas.
Appavu Balandar, a farmer, wanted action for clearing encroachments on water course lands.
A survey should be conducted for ascertaining the extent of the water course areas in the district.
Rama Theerthan, a farmer, pleaded for sanctioning patta to a private school at Melapanayur near Tirumayam which has been catering to the educational needs of children for five to six decades. Non-issue of a patta to the school posed some difficulty for the management of the school.
Madhavan from the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam said the survey for the distribution of relief to drought-hit farmers in the district was not done on accurate yardsticks and wanted relief to farmers who were not included in the survey.
'Rs. 90 crore sanctioned'
C. Manoharan, District Collector, who presided over the meeting, said following the assessment of the crop loss because of the prevailing drought conditions made by a high-level committee, the State government sanctioned Rs. 90 crore for the provision of compensation to the affected farmers.
While Rs. 29.69 crore had been sanctioned to 18,915 farmers of Cauvery delta region, and Rs. 60.39 crore to 1.57 lakh farmers of the non-delta region.
Mr. Manoharan said farmers whose names were included in the list of beneficiaries, they could submit petitions containing details of their name, land survey number, extent of crop loss and so on to tahsildars.
The district administration would recommend their names to the government for adequate compensation, he said.
