Collector Sandeep Nanduri on Thursday said that 505 tanks in the district would be desilted under kudimaramathu scheme.
During the farmers’ grievance meeting, he said that 83 minor irrigation tanks and 422 small tanks would be desilted. A survey is being conducted to identify tanks and sought suggestions from farmers for the same.
Since the previous meeting, crop insurance benefits worth ₹24.22 crore was given to 23,513 farmers for 2017-18. So far, 41,523 farmers have received crop insurance worth ₹41.24 crore for the year. Other farmers would get their insurance next month, he said.
The limit for collateral-free loan provided under the Kisan Credit Card had been increased to ₹1.6 lakh.
The Centre would announce a pension scheme soon providing ₹3,000 a month to those above the age of 60 years. It had fixed a minimum support price of ₹99.20 a kg for ball copra and ₹95.21 a kg for milling copra through TANFED. It would be procured in the next six months at Thoothukudi agricultural producers cooperative marketing society, Udangudi, and Sattankulam primary agricultural cooperative credit societies.
A section of farmers including Tamilmani of Kurumbur sought desilting of Kadambakulam, a large tank in the Tamirabarani irrigation system. The Collector said that there was a dispute between farmers’ association over desilting the tank under kudimaramathu scheme, which requires ayacut farmers to contribute 10 % of the expenditure. He suggested conduct of election among farmers to elect their leader and resolve dispute. A similar problem arose regarding desilting of a tank in Athur.
Krishnamoorthy of Ettayapuram said that there was political intervention in kudimaramathu work in his village. The work should be monitored, he said. The Collector assured that such problems would not arise as farmers themselves were involved in carrying out the work.
Meanwhile, Maharajan of the MDMK and others staged a protest over non-issue of pamphlets during the meeting to all farmers informing them of various schemes.
