The farmers’ grievance day meeting witnessed noisy scenes for some time when the Collector S. Palanisamy announced the removal of district deputy secretary of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), S.K.G.Giridharan, from the list of speakers for making some allegation against officials.
When the Collector requested farmers’ representatives to air their grievances one by one in the meeting held here on Friday, Mr. Giridharan stood up and urged the Collector to allow him to reveal some irregularities committed by officials in the Agriculture Department. Besides, his name was listed as the fourth registered speaker. Officials had not called him to speak to prevent him from raising the issue.
The Collector, who went through the list, found it to be true but said it was just a mistake. Not satisfied with the reply, Mr.Giridharan continued to accuse the officials. The Collector declared that his name was permanently removed from the list of speakers. He also rejected the plea to revoke the order, made by other farmers including district secretary of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, S.Sambandam, by saying that this kind of behaviour by a farmer could not be tolerated in such a forum. Condemning the act of the Collector, the district secretary of AIKS, V.Subramanian, said that a farmer’s representative has every right to air his grievance.
