A number of farmers from Madurai district, who incurred crop loss in Cyclone Gaja, raised concerns at the farmers’ grievance day meeting here on Friday that the damages had not been properly assessed by officials from the district administration in many villages.
Though Madurai was not one of the worst affected districts in Cyclone Gaja, crops in nine blocks, particularly Vadipatti and Melur, had sustained considerable damage in the cyclone.
According to officials, around 725 hectares of agriculture and horticulture crops spread across at least 100 villages in nine blocks were affected in the cyclone. This includes 332.97 hectares of paddy, 167.8 hectare of sugarcane, 180 hectare of banana, and 890 coconut trees.Farmers from Vadipatti, Melur and Kottampatti blocks blamed the officials for not conducting a thorough survey, because of which they they said many farmers had been left out in the list being prepared for compensation. Many complained that the officials had not visited their villages.
Rejecting the allegations, Collector S. Natarajan said that stringent procedures were in place to identify all the genuinely-affected farmers in the cyclone. “Officials have to take geo-tagged pictures during their field visits, which ensures that they visit all the places,” he said.
He said farmers who felt their names had not been included in the list, can approach their respective Village Administrative Officers immediately.
The officials also appealed to the farmers cultivating paddy in Samba season to make use of the November 30 deadline to enrol for the crop insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY).
Other issues that dominated the monthly meeting were: demand for water from Periyar irrigation system for different tanks in the district, and alleged mismanagement of Periyar credit and Vaigai credit of water, both of which are stored in the Vaigai dam.
M. Tirupathi, a farmer from Kulamangalam, blamed officials of Public Works Department for allegedly taking water from Periyar credit, which is mainly meant for irrigation in Madurai district, and accounting it under the Vaigai credit that primarily caters to Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts.
Without commenting on specific allegations, the Collector, however, acknowledged that there were some issues in the distribution of water and the PWD had been instructed to resolve them. “There are a number of tanks in Madurai which are yet to get water,” he said.
