Farmers in the delta region are aghast at what they have termed as the Centre’s paltry grant of ₹2,014.45 crore towards drought relief, saying the amount isn’t even enough to compensate for the losses borne by them in the delta region alone.
The delta farmers have suffered a series of crop losses, with four kuruvai season crops and the recent samba season paddy crop getting wiped out for want of water for irrigation and the lack of monsoon rains. The farmers have accused the Centre of not doing enough to mitigate their losses.
“When the State government sought ₹39,565 crore as relief, the Centre added insult to injury by granting only ₹2,014.45 crore, which is too little by any standard,” says Samy Natarajan, the Thanjavur district secretary of the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam.
“In Karnataka, only 32 taluks were declared drought-hit, but the State was granted ₹1,600 crore. But the entire State of Tamil Nadu, except Chennai, has been declared drought-hit and yet we are getting only ₹1,748 crore. The Central government has not adopted any yardstick in arriving at the quantum of compensation, and has favoured States like Karnataka,” said Cauvery Dhanapalan, vice-president, Tamil Nadu Farmers' Consortium.
‘Faulty assessment’
Questioning the assessment of the inter-ministerial Central team that toured Tamil Nadu to gauge the extent of the crop loss and fix the compensation to be paid to affected farmers, Mr. Vimalnathan said, “The assessment is not based on sound and valid grounds. Also, to compare the situation here with those in other States and say that Tamil Nadu has been granted the maximum quantum of compensation is unfair as the drought that hit Tamil Nadu is by far the worst in 140 years, as records have revealed.”
