Ramanathapuram
Farmers and members of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam took out a rally and staged a demonstration in front of the Collectorate here on Monday, demanding that the government declare the district ‘drought-affected’ and distribute crop insurance to the affected farmers for the year 2017-18.
Famers from about 50 villages in the district came in a procession from the old bus stand and staged the protest. P. Shanmugam, Sangam State general secretary, who led the protest, said the district was hit by drought for three successive years after failure of monsoon.
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The district became the only district to be hit by drought during 2017-18, he said and urged the government to waive farm loans availed by the farmers.
A total of 1.68 lakh farmers had insured their crops and they had suffered 100% loss, he claimed. The government should also compensate farmers who had cultivated chillies, cotton and other crops, he said.
V. Mayilvaganan, district secretary, said the Sangam proposed to take a delegation of farmers to meet Minister for Agriculture R. Doraikannu and other Ministers in Chennai on July 3 to press for the charter of demands.
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If the government failed to concede their demands, they would intensify the agitation, he said. If their meeting with the Ministers failed to yield the desired results, the farmers would ‘reside’ at the Taluk headquarters in the district with their family members as part of intensifying their agitation, he said.